Well, a bit 'o history:
I was originally running by 77 gallon freshwater with 2x40W grolites in a shop light. My plants were so-so, so I got a second shop light. 160W! The light was still crap and the plants only appeared a bit different because they had more algae.
Then our store's Envirolite rep came in and started flouting their new T5 rigs. I was impressed, but decided to do some research. I'm glad I did.
Here's what I came up with.
Supplies used:
4" white PVC, sawed lengthwise to give half-pipes
4" white PVC end caps
3" black PVC end caps, sawn in half
5/8" rubber O rings
Workhorse 7 ballast
Boot connectors
Electrical wire, grounded plug, etc
T5 fluorescent tubes
Aluminum flashing (I believe this was intended for gutter use.. oh well)
Hose clamps and rubber hosing
My overall inspiration for this strip was the new Hagen WaterHome euro-styled canopies. The electrical is shielded but the bulbs hang directly over the water. A long-time user of sliding glass tops, I knew that this was an absolute joy for getting more light into the tank and less algae scraping for me.
I had each half of the PVC as my reflector (let me tell you, that white is an awesome reflector on its own), and drilled holes in the 3" end caps to let the bulbs fit through. I stuck an O ring on the bulbs where they met the black cap to provide a nearly complete moisture seal.
To connect the electrical, I found boot connectors that are used a lot in car audio. Home Depot has them in the electrical area for some other use, but these are rated as something like 15A, so they're just fine for my purposes.
No big surprises there - the wires running from each boot go directly to the ballast. The fit they make with the T5s (after a little prying with a screwdriver) are so snug that you could probably dangle them alone over the water without any problems (or IN the water? :P). Nonetheless, I've electrocuted myself a few times, so I like to be cautious. Note the white cap has been partially sawed away with the back side intact. That allows the cap to sit onto the tank rim and the back side prevents it from moving across the top of the tank and falling in.
With the boots plugged into the bulbs, I attached the white endcaps using a hose clamp and used that black rubber hose to seal the connections from the water. If I had found a better material than that wretched hose, I would most certainly have used it.
Workhorse 7 ballast mounted on top. I used some aluminum flashing to mount it in to give some halfway decent heat dissipation. These ballasts get fairly warm so I'm glad I did it. It's ugly, but it's really not recommended to extend the ballast leads any farther with an electronic ballast (though what can precisely happen doesn't appear to be known, nor how likely it is). If i'd bought a Longhorse instead I could have put the ballast in a hobby box and hidden it away.
Underside once assembled. Yes, that black hose is ugly but it gets the job done.
Some comparison shots:
That's my strip on the left, with all 4 bulbs running. See the 4 bulbs shop light beside it? Look very closely. It's plugged in and lit. All 6 tubes are running. Wow, eh?
(The image is cropped for size, but I didn't cheat with angles - the picture is aimed right in the middle of both fixtures)
The only cheating here is that I only had the one shop light there instead of both.
But just to prove it, there's the shop light plugged in and my T5 strip unplugged. This photo is reversed because of my angle, and because it's too late for me to flip it on Photoshop
.
And, of course, here's what the tank looks like now.
Initial wattage: 160W.
New wattage: 112W.
Increased light: a LOT. The gravel is almost hard to look at now. Before you could hardly see it.
I guess it's true what they say - T5 isn't worth much until you reflect it. Then it's a godsend.
And, by the way, any suggestions on what I could try instead of that hideous black tubing? It needs to be somewhat rigid and somewhat rubbery so it can form a proper seal against the PVC.