mlinden84

Maybe I'll finally get to working on one for mine! Thanks for sharing the info and pictures!

horsensnowrider

VERY NICE!

I think it's always great when we can do something ourselves, saving money and feeling pride at a job well done.

Some questions:
Now that you've had this set up for awhile, how are the plants responding?

I can't afford the expense right now of a sophisticated lighting system, so am planning on doing something like your setup. Only I don't plan on a canopy. My tank is a 90g so it's 24" high, the cabinet is 36" high. Since I'm only 5'2" "stretched" going any higher will be difficult for me to feed, maintain etc. So based on your idea of using household cfls, I figure on building a light hood. With 24" depth, do you think the cfls will reach deep enough into the water. I figure on using a pair of 100 watt equivalents, low & mid light plants light will hopefully be ok.

Do you have any idea what the kelvin rating is for cfls?

With a glass tank cover, I don't think I need any additional protection for the bulbs, like the coffee jar. Does this sound ok?

With a glass tank cover, will that diminish the amount of light reaching down into the tank?

What about a reflector design? Your photos look like there is an angle type reflector.

Any other thoughts based on your experience would be appreciated.

Thanks

susitna-flower

Timg hasn't been on for awhile, I'll pm him and see if I can get him to respond to your questions though. He is a GREAT resource as he has super ideas.......

I have a DIY hood I purchased it has 4 X 96 watt compact 50/50 fluorescent tubes, mounted with reflectors...the best part of it is that it has a 'piano henge' on the back, which allows you to open the top without having to get on a stool....(I am 5'2" also). Mine doesn't have any protection between the water and lights and I've never had any problems.

horsensnowrider

Susitna-Flower
thanks, I'd apreciate that. Didn't know if Tim would see this.

What do you mean by 50/50 fluorescent? And when you say 4x96 watt, are those actual 96 watts or the equivalent.

Your 125g is one of the ones I was impressed with. The shrimp are really neat. Are they difficult to keep? Also, somewhere, I think it was in the plant thread, some mention was made about shrimp eating the pond snails.

I have a serious snail problem. Too many for a lone botia to keep up with. I'm hoping the move to a new tank may get rid of them but rather doubtful. If I want to seed the new tank with gravel from the old then anything that will kill the snails will kill the bacteria. Way back someone at the lfs told me pretreating plants in salt water before adding them to a tank will kill snails. Do you know anyhthing about this? If that works would treating my pantyhose bag of gravel in salt water kill the bacteria?

timg

Hi there!

I got susitna's PM and had to come and have a look, so lets see what we can do:

Lighting: The low energy bulbs are fantastic for plant growth, including algae, unfortunately! I've not come across a kelvin rating for any of the household bulbs that I use, but florescents are much easier to rate than incandescents. One thing I have found, is that the bulbs do need changing regularly. the light goes yellowish after prolonged use, and that is not helpful, so if you can afford them, tubes are a better option for long-term use. The expensive part of the tube is the choke unit, or ballast, as it is called elsewhere. Due to the tubes location, unless it is well protected, waterproof end-caps are essential, so aquarium units are required really. If you wanted to use a standard household fitting, it's quite possible, but you need to fit a perspex cover over the entire fitting to be safe.

That said, you seem to be aware of this potential problem and the glass cover should be enough to allow for a few short-cuts! (I'll post a few ideas in the way of drawings later)

Depth: Water is very dense, where light is concerned, and a 24" tank is getting very close to the maximum for light penetration. Whatever you use above it will need to be powerful to reach the bottom effectively, but as most plants tend to grow upwards, this helps! Plants will follow the light, so will grow towards it. T5s, halides etc will still only work to a limited depth, and they have serious consequences on the upper part of the water, with heat being one of the major issues. On a budget, you are looking at plants that need moderate to low light and that grow tall, rather than bottom covering. I could recommend a few, but that's not my strong field, so ask at the local store or on here for specific types to use. One other thing that would be helpful for plants, is building up from the bottom with large rocks, effectively moving the plants upwards, a bit like a grassy hill with caves under. The fish would love it!

Reflectors are always a good idea, and here's a cheap and cheerful idea: For LE's take a foil baking tray, the type that you use for pies, and just re-shape it to suit. These are firm enough to stand the heat and rigid enough to staple or glue in place above the bulbs. For tubes, make a simple plywood reflector and cover with turkey foil.

You asked if the glass cover would affect the light. In my experience, it doesn't, as long as it is clear glass. If you want a diffuser effect, change it for frosted or decorative glass instead, or a perspex of similar finish. (Perspex will have a small detrimental effect, even if it's clear as the properties are different to glass)

Height: You have mentioned that you are short of stature, so here's a neat work-around on the hood build: Fit the hinge on the front of the top panel, so that the fron flaps upwards, instead of the top. It needs very little re-working to do this and I have done so on several canopies I built afterwards for the same reason. Although I am 6', when the tanks get high, even I need to have a stool or something to stand on! Another simple fix for this is to make a small step that you can remove when you don't need it. I made one for my wife when we got the new washing machine, since it's a top-loader and she couldn't reach the bottom! All it needs is a piece of 12mm plywood, around 600mm x 300mm and 4 pieces of 100x100 timber, all cut to the same lengths, screwed one on each corner. The legs can be whatever is comfortable, but I wouldn't go any longer than 150mm using this simple design. It might not sound like it will make that much difference, but an extra 6" really can make a big difference!

I think this has covered the main points. I hope it's of use! I will work on some sketches and add them to this when they are done. Enjoy!

GreenMan13

I agree completely.

My plants are doing great. I have posted some pictures of them since I have gotten them in my members tank post: 55 Gal

I agree with trying what timg said about a hinge on the front panel if you want a hood.

Yes.
That would be a little low on the lighting. That is about 0.5 watts to the gallon if its on a 90 gallon tank since "100 watt equivalents" are only 26 watt florecents which is what the watts per gallon rule is based off. Judge the wattage off the real wattage not the equivalent incandescent bulb. I can explain this more if wanted.

They vary in temp. Most are rated at one of three temps. Soft, Daylight and one other wording. You want the Daylight ones since those are 5500K for most bulbs and 6500K for some. The bulbs I would go with are GE 26 watt Daylights since they are 6500K. They are cheap if you order them from here: Walmart
Standard incandescent bulbs by the way are around 3500K I think.

Yes.

Yes, by about 5-9% of the light lost I think. This is from reading other people's tests using various light meters.

My reflectors are really bad. They are just from the plastic hoods I had taken the bulb sockets out of. I would do something like what timg said. Other things you can do are just to paint the inside of the tank white. This will have to be a nice quallity white paint though so it does not turn yellow quickly. As it turns yellow you would have to repaint it to keep the reflectivity strong. Or you could just layer it in foil. But the best would be something like bending a shiny piece of metal like the pan idea timg said. I will be doing this at some point just haven't taken the time.

Can't think of any but feel free to ask anything. I have done a lot of research on CFLs and light in general. (It's an interest of mine and was my major in school)

timg

Well done GreenMan13! I was very interested in the temp ratings, as it's something I hadn't looked into very well, mainly because I don't have anything deep enough to worry! (Most of my tanks are 18" or less)

If cost is a controlling factor, could you not add 2 more fittings to double the wattage? (4 bulbs rather than 2?) I have done this in the fish house with great effect. It's still way cheaper than the florescent tube equivalent, even with the extra cost of the holders. That would give the rating of 1 watt per gallon, just on the lower limit for plants.

It will make a difference just which plants are used though, and I would definitely go for low to moderate light requirement plants to be sure of good results. Again, tall plants will work best, IMO.

The idea of paint is pretty sound too, apart from the reflective abilities, it waterproofs the timber and it is mentioned in the original build plan, I think. (BTW, we all know you mean "hood", painting the inside of the tank would not be beneficial to good viewing! He He!). I favor the foil purely for simplicity and cost. The easiest way to do this is just to stick it to the entire inside of the hood, (you could cheat here by applying the foil straight after the paint, using the wet paint as the adhesive), rather than trying to make a reflector, but I would still recommend a baffle to stop the light from dazzling you when you open the cover.

GreenMan13

Thats what I did in mine. If you can find them, they make two socket outlets so you only need to wire two sockets and still have 4 bulbs. You could put as many bulbs in as you can fit if you really wanted.

Hehe oops. Ya, painting the tank would be bad. Ya, the hood definitely needs to be painted or stained to protect the wood from the massive amount of moisture. If you go with paint though and can afford two colors or don't mind a white outside I would paint the inside white even if you use foil. That way any hole in the foil will still be a bright color compared to a dark one that absorbs light. Home Depot has oops paint that you can get for $5 a gallon, just need to keep an eye on it and wait for a nice looking color.

Definitely, this happens to me even with a gray inside.