10 gallon lighting problems

I have a 1x36 for my 10 gallon, and I passed up retro fitting into an existing light fixture for the same fears you have. I built a cheesy box out of 1/2 oak, mounted the ballast on the inner back wall and left a slot open above the ballast for ventilation.

It doesn't look as nice as a retrofitted light fixture or a box made with good tools, but I'm confident that it will not melt anything, or heat anything to the point of combustion. You could also mount the ballast on the outside with some kind of stand-offs to keep it away from the plastic. Again, not pretty, but safer.

thanks edacsac i just wasn't sure if i could mount the ballast to wood or not because it gets hot. so now i have a project for the night =] i was looking at some other lighting and saw this Current USA Satellite 20" 40 Watt Power Compact Fixture-Single Strip W/Lunar Light at Big Al's Online

that would give me way more light and i wouldnt have to worry about it catching on fire haha. i think i may hold off on that till my bday in a month. i think the plants should do good with the 2.6 that they are getting now though.

I have my ballast from the 1x36w kit mounted on the outside of a wooden box I built to house the light. It gets pretty warm but not even close enough to burn wood.

The 2x13w over a 10g is pretty darn good. 36w over a 10g is realllly bright that's why I keep a lot of floating Guppy Grass to cut down on the light a bit. 26w should be able to grow a large range of plants. If they don't grow then the lighting isn't your problem.

Current is one of the better brands of lights out there.

Is there a way to retrofit a AHS 36w kit with the ballast mounted on the inside? Or would that get too hot?

Did you mount your ballast on the inside too for the 2x13w kit?

I mounted the 2 ballasts on the inside on mine and the one was fine, but the other one gave me problems. You might be able to mount it on the inside but i would just keep an eye on it or rig it up with a fan. Mine looked like it was very close to just catching on fire.

Thanks for the tip.

I know people doing the 1x36w remote-mount the ballast on the outside, not sure if it was the same for the 2x13w kit. =)

does anyone have the Satellite or any other lights with Lunar Lights? I have a question about the lunar light. Is it just for aesthetics or does it serve a purpose?

Not in freshwater, you can see nocturnal activities with it though, and it looks sweet.
I thought about the 2x13 kit, but decided that combining 2 normal strip lights was cheaper, and once i get a reflector it will be good.

yea i figured it was just for show. i can't wait to see how it looks i get it tuesday! the tanks should be settled down by tonight so i will try to get some pic up tonight or tomorrow