help me choose lighting

[rob1984]

Little too late then I guess... lol, Well I tried!

I have fallen in love with that link. Found it a few hours ago, and already have my materials list for what I need to mount 2 48" shoplights, 1 set will be day lights, and 1 set will be a blue/purple moonlight.

well you should post up a pic of it whe ya get her done im still debating about maybe either doing something like this or making a wooden canopy very basic tho, that way it dont allow any light to escape out compared to a light just hanging above the tank ya knwo

 

[Redtail Monster]

well you should post up a pic of it whe ya get her done im still debating about maybe either doing something like this or making a wooden canopy very basic tho, that way it dont allow any light to escape out compared to a light just hanging above the tank ya knwo

I hear ya... I would really like a canopy, but running the HOB's and whatnot, it would just turn into a pain, and at the same time, there is something very clean and sharp looking about an open top tank like that with the light mounted above it (or at least they made it look that way on PlantedAquarium's site!)

 

[rob1984]

very true but i also need a canopy thats open in the back to allow my custom spray bar and hoses and stuff to get into the tank, check out the canopy i wanna build it will work with HOB stuff as well man.... you could always just put a small 3" or 4" wide peice at the back to cover the majority of it just so it sits like .5-.75" above you tallest HOB on the back too ...

 

[Redtail Monster]

I do like the way that hood is set up. Looks like it would work well! I want pictures of that when your done!

I am decided to go the opposite, I just cant get over how clean it looks.

I will be doing almost the exact same as seen below, except rather than having 2 lights in line with each other, I will have 2 48" shoplights running parallel with each other.

 

[Redtail Monster]

kinda like...

 

[rob1984]

so you mean your going to have a pair of dual bulb 48" fixtures almost like side by side ? but the length of the tank ? ya im unsure of exactly when im gooing to have time to even think of building that canopy lol, i work nights and sleep all day and weekends im with my kids so might be quite awhile and im thinking about maybe getting a bigger tank so i may wait till i get a bigger tank to try and make it

 

[Redtail Monster]

Correct, for a total of 4 bulbs. I would just run 1 48" x 4 bulb, but I want to be able to control the 2 sets separately. 1 shoplight will be dedicated to day lights, and the other will be for blue and purple.... unless I can find some good colored spot LED's I could hide behind the first shoplight. Those would be more ideal, but I think the double 2 bulb lights are gonna end up being cheaper!

 

[rob1984]

See wanting leds like that you could get the led strips they have at walmart and just attach em on inside of canopy on front and back with your shop lights in the center

 

[Redtail Monster]

See wanting leds like that you could get the led strips they have at walmart and just attach em on inside of canopy on front and back with your shop lights in the center

Very true.... very true!

 

[rob1984]

Very true.... very true!

yo'll have to post pics of when ya get your bar bent up and etc on yours then i can see how it turned out what do ya plan on capping the ends of the pipe off with tho ??