I'm looking for a way to light my new 260 without spending a fortune, the tank just has glass sliders so something that hangs over the top would be ideal. I looked into using LED floodlights but have no idea how many/what wattage i'd need and I saw people say that the cheaper ones can fail after a while. Any ideas?
Cheap light ideas?
- Thread starter Jhncf
- Start date
Home Depot strip lights - $10 to $14 a pop. Buy some tubes to go with it of your desired wattage.
High tech solution.
Get x4 heat lamp housings with the *MASH* grill on them (MASH, as in the TV show!) Basicly a cord and a shield. Hang these like you would any other cheap chandler lighting , like a hook in the ceiling with a chain to support. Install one of several flood lighting options out there, like a 'normal' 300 watt garage light bulb, the 65W CFL alternative to the 300W bulb, or swap in a LED bulb that fits the bill->this is what I'm doing currently, $30 18W LED flood. My plants are loving the output!
And the tanks look 'rustic' with the utility lighting up my 6' tall pothos plant that grows from my sump, or my katnip plant that bloomed a day after installing the LED bulbs (6500K 18W LED vs 4300K CFL 65W)
Get x4 heat lamp housings with the *MASH* grill on them (MASH, as in the TV show!) Basicly a cord and a shield. Hang these like you would any other cheap chandler lighting , like a hook in the ceiling with a chain to support. Install one of several flood lighting options out there, like a 'normal' 300 watt garage light bulb, the 65W CFL alternative to the 300W bulb, or swap in a LED bulb that fits the bill->this is what I'm doing currently, $30 18W LED flood. My plants are loving the output!
And the tanks look 'rustic' with the utility lighting up my 6' tall pothos plant that grows from my sump, or my katnip plant that bloomed a day after installing the LED bulbs (6500K 18W LED vs 4300K CFL 65W)
I tried one LED floodlight in my Ceiling. The LED floodlights are a lot more focused than regular floodlights. This might actually be good for an aquarium, to be honest, I've never even thought of it until this thread. But the point is, if you have a 6' tank, you will maybe need 3 or more of them. (Just guessing). The LEDs are like a spot light.
I use T5 lights on most of my tanks, very economical and only use slightly more power than LEDs (not enough of a difference to worry about, IMO)
I use T5 lights on most of my tanks, very economical and only use slightly more power than LEDs (not enough of a difference to worry about, IMO)
The best idea I've come up with, and have seen implemented by another member (muddbuttjones on his 90gal thread) was to buy the led strip lights, the ones that are in the plastic tubing, and run them inside a piece of plastic rain gutter from the home depot or lowes, and cap the ends. cheap, effective, easy.
Oh you mean like this
Worked ok for my moon lights. On a 75g I just set up I used a 4ft shop work light. Those work good, otherwise cfl bulbs in those bayco clip work spotlights work nice too. It takes a few of em but with 13watt cfls its not too bad on the power bill
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I very cheaply light some of my tanks by using a reading lamp on top of a light diffuser to increase the light in the tank, also helps to heat the tank a small bit as well. That's more of a fishroom style lighting method though and I wouldn't use that for a display tank for aesthetic reasons.
yuuuuuuup, that bad motha right there. I had that idea a while back...all I ever bought was the lights...which are in a big tangled pile in my living room. Then you had to come along and make one and now I just feel like I'm a mudbutt wannabe...View attachment 1052659
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Oh you mean like this
Worked ok for my moon lights. On a 75g I just set up I used a 4ft shop work light. Those work good, otherwise cfl bulbs in those bayco clip work spotlights work nice too. It takes a few of em but with 13watt cfls its not too bad on the power bill
Sent from my SCH-R950 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
