sirdarksol

The idea for a canopy for my big tank has gelled in my mind, which means that I'm going to be going with DIY lighting, building the lights directly into the canopy.

I was wondering about ballasts. I have read that you are supposed to use aquarium specific ballasts. If I have the ballast outside of the canopy, away from splashed/evaporated water, is this a necessity?

GreenMan13

What kind of lights are you going to be using? That determines what kind of ballast you need. The requirements of the bulb are what determine what ballast you need. It doesn't need to be a ballast specifically for a fish tank as long as it can power the bulbs correctly. Is this for a fresh water or salt water tank?

hop2jr

Ya what Greenman said. If you are putting it in its own dry boxed in area the only thing you have to do is make sure that you vent the box inside the canopy if the ballast gets to hot it will burn out. a couple small fans should do the trick depending on wattage of ballasts.

sirdarksol

Not sure if I'm going to be using T-5, VHO, or Compact Fluorescent, but I will be sure to match ballast type to bulb type.

I figured as much, but in the "how to" guides (admittedly all written by aquarium lighting production companies), they said to only use these particular ballasts.

Thanks for the help, guys.