electrical project- wiring (overdriven) fluorescent lights

[rnocera]

For a course I'm taking I have to do a project with electricity, and the more complex the project the more it's worth (meaning wiring a light bulb to a battery is 25 out of 25 points, but making a circuit of lights might be worth 50 out of 50 points, and so on). So, I'd like to do something fairly interesting, and have it be worth enough points to balance out some poor quiz scores.

My idea is to build a canopy for a 20 gallon aquarium, and wire in some lighting. I may even want to wire in some cooling fans. My budget for this project is fairly small; I'd like to not spend a ton of money on it. It's going to be a simple canopy made from 1x6 boards, and designed to sit on top of a glass top for the aquarium. It'll be a 1x6 wrapped around the tank, and the top will be a couple 1x6s ripped to size so they fit together to make a tight lid. There'll be a hole in the back for a HOB filter, and the whole canopy will have to come off to get in the tank, but since it's small, that's not an issue. Construction of the canopy itself is no issue- it's a very simple build, and will be done in one afternoon.

I'm looking for advice on wiring some lights together. I wouldn't mind overdriving a couple fluorescents so I can use the canopy over a planted tank.

Anybody have any advice on where to start? What the cheapest & safest fluorescent bulbs would be for this? Where to get bulbs, fixtures, and ballasts that will work for it? I'm reading through stuff online, but it seems like most everything recommended is for large tanks, not a 30" long 20 gallon. I'd appreciate some tips, even if it's just where to look for more information.

Thanks!

 

[mrunlucky07]

Hi, I see you are in New Castle, I grew up in Lawrence county.

There are some good threads about ODNO on indoor plant growing websites. I am using it on two tanks and it works pretty well with t-8 bulbs. You can actually cut down the reflector/housing on a standard 4' fluorescent light to either 24" or 30" and without rewiring it will be driving the smaller wattage lights at about twice NO. Walmart sells cheap electronic ballasted shop lights for $10 which are easy to overdrive, it just takes two and moving a few wires. The steel reflectors will rust over time though. Also I recently bought some and had to take them back due to faulty ballasts, so save your receipt. Check out the price of bulbs before you start and add up the total cost.

If you are OK with basic very bright white light another option is to install screw type CF bulbs. 26w 6500k CF bulbs are around $6 a pair at wally world. You can also get water resistant outdoor light sockets there for $6 a set. You just wire up the light sockets with a cord and screw in the CF lightbulbs. So for about $25 you can have 104w of light. These work great for growing plants. Petsmart sells 50/50 actnic/10k screw type CF bulbs for about $15 if you need to broaden the spectrum a bit.

As an electronics teacher I have to say be careful and use a GFCI