DIY CF Lighting-under $20

I went to Lowes and picked up an "All Weather Lampholder Kit"(similar to the pic below. Don't get the fixture for flood lights) and attached it to my canopy, attached a cord, installed 2 CF light bulbs and plugged it in....the tank never looked better! All for under 20 bucks and 15 mins time!!

FYI- the background is also a DIY project. I found a nice pic on the net of rocks, printed it on glossy paper and taped it to the back of the tank. It needs some tweeking but I think it came out pretty good and saved me some money!

 

Looks good. CFLs are the way to go. I have 4 lighting up my tank too. Nice background too, never though of printing off a picture.

 

Looks good. CFLs are the way to go. I have 4 lighting up my tank too. Nice background too, never though of printing off a picture.

Thanks! I only reproduced the same pic over and over. The next one I do, I'll try to do it in poster/banner size so I when I put it together it will form a whole scene.

 

what are the specs of these lights? Are they good enough for plant life, reef, or are they more for looks? which btw they look great in the tank.

 

I've transplanted some plants from another tank, put in some root tabs so I'll find out how well the plants do in these lights. They are the "75w" bulbs. I recently bought a blue bulb for night lighting. I'll take a pic and post it.

 

I'm guessing that's 75watt equivalent? If you are looking at the watt to gallon rule like for plants or whatnot you should be using the real wattage. But yes they do work well for plants or just for looks. I have 4 14watt CFLs over my 55 gallon tank. You can see pics in my members forum, there is a link in my signature.

Reefs, I would advise against it since reefs have a lot more lighting requirements. I think it is doable if you research into enough, I plan to try it later this year. Once again though, I would highly advise against these for a reef unless you do heavy research into lighting requirements for coral.

 

Here's a pic of the DIY moonlighting. I use a blue CFL bulb in one socket of the light fixure. I have Clown Loaches in this tank so that is why I am using minimal lighting. 2 fixures(4 bulbs) would provide better lighting, but would spook the Loaches too much. They hide pretty much during the day anyway.

 

that looks awesome man not a bad idea at all