madman

I went to Petsmart to buy a twin tube flourescent strip light for my 29 gallon. While looking around I found this light Exo Terra® Compact Fluorescent Terrarium Canopy. I opened it and looked at it and it looks exactly like what I was going to build out of wood except this is made out of plastic. It is basically the plastic shell with a reflector and 3 light sockets and 2 switches. I am putting the energy efficient compact flourescents in it. Now the question, In the directions it says not for aquarium use. Now I have examined this light with a fine tooth comb and asked the gentleman at petsmart why it is not for aquarium use and can not tell the difference between this light set up and a incandescent aquarium light. It is setting on a glass top, I have had it on now for 4 hours and there is no heat buildup at all. It seems like a great inexpensive light that by using 3 nine watt compact flourescents I can get a actual 120 light watts (each compact flourescent is a 9 watt light that produces 40 watts) for $35.00. Now am I missing something here? Any input would be appreciated.

sirdarksol

Probably wasn't made to be resistant to the moisture put off by an aquarium, or to deal with the tiny splashes made by the filter.
Chances are that if you've got it on glass, and if you protect it from splash from the filter, it should be okay. I'm not positive, though. "If all else fails, follow instructions. Failing to do so makes you solely responsible for whatever happens, good or bad." (advice given to me by a ceramics teacher. He was talking about clays, slips, glazes, and firing, but it applies to many things in life)

madman

Well it is on glass and the strip on the back of the glass top was trimmed to fit the filter fairly tight so there is no splash on the glass. I was going to build the same thing just a little longer out of wood. I have seen several different plans on how to do this and it looks just like this one finished but made out of plywood. That is why I went ahead and bought it. Tim