Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OKay, I need some help here.

I've got a 45 Gal. tank with a 36" hood on it, the problem is- the hood houses a 24" bulb, which I believe doesn't produce enough light. I think I can fit a 36" bulb under it, but I don't know how to go about it. What do you all think I should do? I don't want to put a regular 48" shop light over it because the tank is in my bedroom, and is kindof a decoration piece. I've been reading about all these lighting setup you guys have, but I can't make heads or tales of their descriptions. I don't know what kind of bulb to use, or whether or not it should be behind the layer of glass that covers the top of my tank. If anybody has a digi cam and can take a quick picture of a setup you would recommend I would sure appreciate it! Thanks in advance for any help you might offer, Jeff

What's funny is that I am in a similar situation with my new 29 gallon. The one light is not going to be sufficient at all. What you need to do is go to Home Depot, have them cut glass that you can utilize as a top (about 5 dollars for the glass), and then have them cut the glass so that part of it you can hinge with vinyl and silicon to utilize as an opening. A full glass top allows you to utilize the entire top for light. Right now with this 29 gallon, I am using the strip light that came with the hood with a Fritz reef bulb, and 2 smaller fixtures staggered (one with an Exo-terra 2.0 and one with a 5.0). This temporary lighting setup is very adequate for my plants, but not very pleasing to the eye. I am searching high and low for the Lights of America model 6065 fluorescent worklight that puts out 6500 Kelvin (2 of these would fit the top of my tank perfectly). I suppose I could just save time and probably money and just buy some power compacts, but its always more exciting to be faced with a challenge. To make a very long and useless story short, be creative with your lighting, buy quality, low cost lighting and usually, just when you think your lighting is adequate, you will find another way to improve upon it. Just remember, plants utilize the green/blue and red parts of the light spectrum. I hope this all helps and is comprehendable.

David

You should be able to get one 24' bulb to be enough light. Look into repti-glo 2.0. I use a 24' on my 29gal Azureus tank and it is enough light. You can pick one up at most pet stores for about $16-18.
Also look here:
www.bulbs.com/products/product.asp?page=products&class=692
I have not tried these yet, but I plan to in the near future.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
D. leucomelas
D. azureus

did you get my reply e-mail about the cyprus knee?
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Click Here to See My Dart Tank In The Making

Why not go with Compact Fluorescents. I just retrofitted a strip light with 2 5000K bulbs and it puts out a lot of light. You have to use a ballast with each bulb unless you want to pay a lot more for a ballast that can run multiple bulbs.

Jeff,

Hey man, this is what I did for my 30 gallon Golden Mantella tank; I had 4 36" shoplight fixtures lying around from an old setup and figured Id put them to use. But I didnt want it to look like crap so I decided to cover them with a wooden frame. I layed them all next to each other and measured the total distance. It was 11" and the leingth of the fixtures was 36". While they were next to each other I decided to get all their power cords wired and such. I wired the 2 center ones to one powercord and the other 2 seperate so I could create a dawn/dusk effect utalizing timers. Back to the wood; so I cut (2) 11" pieces of 2x4s, (2) 38" pieces of 1x6s, and (2) 11" pieces of 1x6s with a table saw. Once they were all cut, I nailed the 38" 1x6" pieces to the 11" 1x6s to make a rectangle with inside dimentions of 11x36. Next I nailed the 2x4s inside the rectangle for means of mounting the lights. The lights had screw holes in the top, so I made sure to connect the 2x4s at the right disance (so I could make use of the holes) Oh yeah, at all the places I nailed, I also used a thin layer of carpeners glue for extra support. Once the frame was completed, I drilled a hole in the back piece (one of the 38" 1x6s) for the power cords. Next I put all the lights in place inside the frame and ran all three cords thru the hole. I used 1 1/2" drywall screws to secure the lights to the 2x4s. The final step was to hang it above the tank. I got 12' of jack chain, (2) large 2" eye hooks, and (4) smaller 1" eye hooks from home depot. I found 2 ceiling studs, made a starter hole in each stud for the hooks with a 3/32" drill bit, and screwed in the (2) 2" eye hooks using a long screw driver for extra leverage. Next I screwed the 4 smaller eye hooks into the 2x4s on top of the frame. I cut the 12' of chain into 4 equal sections of 3' and hooked one to each eye hook on the frame. Finally I raised the whole thing up and hooked the chains to the 2 large eye hooks in the ceiling. I was very happy with the final results. It took a little adusting to make in level by slightly turning each of the 4 small eye hooks untill it was level. But I think it looks great and it didnt cost an arm and a leg. The light output is very good as well. Anyway, I hope this gives you an idea of how to light your tank.

View the entire photo album at ImageEvent.com/audiomaster/goldenmantellavivarium/

Take it easy.
-David Taylor