Fish Addict

I currently have an Eclipse hood on my fish tank. It works great, but it can only do about 1 WPG, and I can't retrofit it without the risk of melting the hood... So I was wondering if there is a way to keep the filter part, and just get rid of the part that holds the lights... Instructions on how to build light holder would be very helpful too! THANKS A TON!

GreenMan13

Can you take a few photos of the hood?

pepetj

What model of Eclipse hood do you have?

I know that Perfecto and other brands have upgrading lighting assemblies (going 2 or 3 lamps per unit).

A DIY approach is also possible if you are careful with it. As GreenMan13 suggest, please upload a pic of your canopy.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Fish Addict

I am pretty sure it is an eclipse 3 hood for a 39 gallon...
My dad emailed Eclipse, and they said it couldn't be safely retrofitted...
I was thinking maybe just do a wooden part for that part of the hood. Could that work?

GreenMan13

I don't have an eclipse hood and i haven't seen one in the LFS i go to. I do work one a lot of DIY projects and could probably help you come up with a way to upgrade the lighting. I can't find any pictures of it though which I would need to help you.

Fish Addict

I think I will just use a fine saw to saw off the part where the light is, and just leave the filter...

Is there anyone who has a good DIY for building a hood.. also, any recommendations for lights?

GreenMan13

For lights, since you are going to make the hood, CFLs. GE makes some 26 watt 6500K bulbs. In the hood you just need to wire in a screw in socket.

How big is the light area of the hood?

Fish Addict

Would strip lights work better or something?

Also, 26 watts... I'd need more than 3...

It is around 2 and a half feet long, by about 8 inches wide...

Fish Addict

Also, could I maybe find a way to do a moon light for at night?

GreenMan13

Get these bulbs -GE 6pack.
And 3-4 of these - Screw Socket, depending on if you want 78 or 104 watts. (3 would give you about 2 watts/gallon and would be enough for most plants but I bet you could fit 4 in there horizontally.

Strip lighting? Do you mean like rows of leds? That would work but would be very costly and difficult since you would need to either buy high end strips or make your own and high end leds are not cheap even if bought just as the leds themselves to get the right lighting for a fish tank.

You could try metal halide lights I think they make 70,100,and 150 watt metal halides. Those are slightly expensive and might be too hot for the plastic on the filter.

Of you could do a plain tube florescent bulb like what in there now. be cheaper then the metal halide but more then the compacts. The make kits to attach to hoods at most online fish stores.