New fixtures in an old hood?

[kelseygirl]

Hi everyone. I have a 13 gal. tall tank with a 12" square hood. It was old when I got it, and I've had it for years. Anyway, the light fixture finally passed away. Neither my hubby nor I are electrician/fix-it people. I've looked around and on-line, and I get the impression that just buying a new hood for this thing will be impossible. It's in a dark room and has tetras and corys in it, so we really can't enjoy the fish without lights. I'd like to keep the existing hood and just fix the light if possible. Does anyone have any ideas??? They would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Janice

[lhforbes12]

Try here; http://www.ahsupply.com/twox.htm
or here; http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp...TS&Category=25

[diamond_discus]

I checked out the site http://www.aquatraders.com

I have a 40 gallon SeaClear tank (for discus) that is 30" wide. Would that be too much if I buy the 30" 130W Dual Strip Compact Fluorescent Light Fixture ?

Seems like the T5 Fluorescent would work for me but they don't have a 30" fixture (either a 24" or 36").

[lhforbes12]

4 wpg is pretty high light, unless you are planning on injecting CO2 I would go for about half that.

[diamond_discus]

Well, that website doesn't have much choice for 30" width. Maybe I should get the dual one but only use one light bulb ? What is the optimal light for discus ? 2wpg ?

[diamond_discus]

Actually, I am currently using an old hood from my old 10 gallon tank. It's an Allglass Aquarium 20" hood, 19w light. This only cover 2/3 of the tank. Therefore, the other 1/3 is always darker. Some of the discus (that are more shy) like to hide at that darker corner. Should I keep this setup or go buy a 30" lighting fixture to have a more even light distribution ? Or does it really matter ? I heard that discus actually like darker area.

[lhforbes12]

The light wont bother your discus, but that much light without CO2 injection will certainly give you an algae problem. You can try using only one lamp, or you could just use them both, I have been known to be wrong sometimes.

Larry

[t2000kw]

Hi everyone. I have a 13 gal. tall tank with a 12" square hood. It was old when I got it, and I've had it for years. Anyway, the light fixture finally passed away. Neither my hubby nor I are electrician/fix-it people . . .Does anyone have any ideas??? They would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Janice

Some ideas:

1.) Have you checked to see if it has a starter that needs replaced? They are usually under the bulb (between the bulb and fixture) and twist in and out. If it has one, they're not expensive but get the right one for the bulb.

2.)Try the bulb in another fixture known to be good to see if it is good or not.

3.) Can either of you do some simple wiring for conventional screw-in sockets for a regular light bulb? If so, you can wire one or two regular light bulb sockets and use compact flourescents. Get flourescents with a high kelvin temperature (the specs on the package may tell you what it is, you are looking for something like 6000 deg. K). You probably don't want a "cool white" bulb but you can use any of the compact flourescent bulbs if you prefer or can't find something closer to daylight. You might be able to buy a screw-in bulb base pre-wired, maybe with screw mounting holes. You then would mount one in each side of the current fixture and add compact flourescents.

4.) Can you buy a complete fixture that is at least slightly smaller than your aquarium top (it has to fit inside it), gut out the light (remove all of the parts and wiring), and screw or epoxy the new fixture into the top? Route the wiring through a hole or make a hole. You can buy a rubber grommet to fit around the wire and in the hole if you are concerned about chafing of the wire and safety.

5.) Can you make a hood of wood or metal (coat it with polyurethane to protect it from the moisture), cut a hole in the top, and lay a new fixture across your hole?

Just some ideas on making the best of the situation and keeping it cheap.

You can, if you have the money, find a handyman or an electrical machine shop and have them put a new ballast and bulb holder into your current fixture.

If you are unsure still about what to do, you can send a private message with your email address and we can get a picture of what you have and then give some directions on what to do.

Donald Hellen

[Dissident]

FYI:

The Watt/gallon rule breaks down on small and large tanks. Takashi Amanno has a chart somewhere on w/gal vs tank size.

Typically W/gal is a general guideing rule for standard tanks 30gal-90gal.

ie.
A large tank lets say 200gal will grow high-light plants with 400W of light, thats only 2W/gallon. On a tank that size it is still considered med-high light.
The inverse is also true:
4W/gallon on a 10gallon tank is only 40W, not much light.

~4w/gallon on a 13gallon tank really would only be considered med-light at best.

As far as fixing what you have, I would get one of those small florsecent or cold-cathode lights you see for cabinets or your pantry and just mount it in the hood with whatever.

or get soemthing like this: (well 2 of them)
http://cgi.ebay.com/13-Watt-Power-Co...QQcmdZViewItem

[lhforbes12]

FYI:

The Watt/gallon rule breaks down on small and large tanks. Takashi Amanno has a chart somewhere on w/gal vs tank size.

Typically W/gal is a general guideing rule for standard tanks 30gal-90gal.

ie.
A large tank lets say 200gal will grow high-light plants with 400W of light, thats only 2W/gallon. On a tank that size it is still considered med-high light.
The inverse is also true:
4W/gallon on a 10gallon tank is only 40W, not much light.

~4w/gallon on a 13gallon tank really would only be considered med-light at best.

As far as fixing what you have, I would get one of those small florsecent or cold-cathode lights you see for cabinets or your pantry and just mount it in the hood with whatever.

or get soemthing like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/13-Watt-Power-Co...QQcmdZViewItem

I'm not entirely sure what prompted that response, but it is essentially correct. 60 watts more or less on your 30 gallon tank will work well. I would strongly consider getting some Seachem Flourish Excel, since you aren't going to inject CO2. Most plants will do fine with that amount of light.

[Dissident]

I'm not entirely sure what prompted that response, but it is essentially correct. 60 watts more or less on your 30 gallon tank will work well. I would strongly consider getting some Seachem Flourish Excel, since you aren't going to inject CO2. Most plants will do fine with that amount of light.

Hmmm... I was reading your response to 4W/gal being too high for a 13gal tank but I didn't realize you were responding to the thread-hijacker In that case 4W/gal would be a little high for a non-CO2 30gal tank....

*NOTE*
Don't Hijack Threads it just confuses me
*NOTE*

[t2000kw]

On the subject of using compact flourescents as a replacement after installing screw bulb type sockets in the old fixture . . .

I was in a store called Big Lots today (some areas might still have the anme under "Odd Lots") and saw 40W (very) compact flourescent bulbs, 6,500 K (kelvin temperature rating) for $2.99 each. There were also some soft white types about the same price but the color temperature was 2,900 or something in that range, on the red end of the spectrum.

The higher rating will look better but the plants and fish probably won't care too much if they are freshwater species.

[Dissident]

I have used those bulbs on planted tanks before to try them out.

They work OK but it is typically hard to find them over 5,500K.
They also typicall read "30W PowerCompact = 100W" but for planted tanks you still have to count them as 30W (forget the marketing trick)

[t2000kw]

I have used those bulbs on planted tanks before to try them out.

They work OK but it is typically hard to find them over 5,500K.
They also typicall read "30W PowerCompact = 100W" but for planted tanks you still have to count them as 30W (forget the marketing trick)

I was surprised to find the 6,500K compact Flourescents in a discount store for less than $3!

As for the wattage rating, I agree. I thought that would go without saying, but someone might get the wrong idea. Since the person would be replacing their flourescent with another type of the same, if she wanted to have an equal amount of light, an equal flourescent rating should be used. However, I think a little more than what a 12 inch bulb would produce would probably be OK. A 40W compact would probably provide more than enough light.

That would also suggest that using regular incandescent bulbs would require a derating of some sort since they are mush less efficient. They also produce much more heat while consuming many more watts of power per unit of light and probably are not well suited for most aquariums. That's what they used to put in the cheap hoods of 10 gallon tanks, though. Fortunately, they now make a compact flourescent direct repalcement bulb to replace the tubular shaped one that were once so popular in those small tanks.