Let there be light . . .

[uapkrn1]

Greetings to all.

I believe I'm finally going to get the wooden canopy for my tank this weekend. It will fit over a 3' x 6' acrylic tank (200g) that's a tad shallower than normal (about 18" deep). My tank is freshwater, fish only.

I could use some advice on lighting. It seems like I should attach the fixture(s) to the lid in some way. Do they come with mounts, or are they made to rest on top of the tank?

In terms of illumination on an oddly dimensioned tank, is one 48" fixture enough, or maybe two shorter ones? (I currently have a cheap 48" shop fixture hanging from the ceiling above the tank with 2 40w flourescents. Nothing fancy and I think it may be too bright.) What kind of bulbs do you recommend? My current stock is a hodge-podge:

6" red oscar
6" tinfoil barb
7" gold severum
7" clown knife
5" clown loach
8" polypterus senegal
4" electric blue dempsey
7" leporinus

I've got plenty of hiding places so the fish don't appear to be stressed, but at the same time I'd like to see more of the bichir and the knife than I do currently.

Any advice greatly appreciated. I'm almost there!

krn

 

[moxxommox]

get some T5s they are super hella bright!!! light up everything.

 

[rallysman]

I used canister lights that hold 2 26w compact flourescent lights each. I like the effect that it gives, and it's good lighting. I also used dimming ballasts so I could tune the light to where I want it.
here are a couple pictures.

 

[jjk454ss]

I used canister lights that hold 2 26w compact flourescent lights each. I like the effect that it gives, and it's good lighting. I also used dimming ballasts so I could tune the light to where I want it.

Thanks for the pic, I am hoping to build a canopy soon and never thought of anything but the long flourescents. Do the compacts work OK with the dimmer? Normal compacts are not meant for use with dimmers. I thought anyway.

 

[rallysman]

Thanks for the pic, I am hoping to build a canopy soon and never thought of anything but the long flourescents. Do the compacts work OK with the dimmer? Normal compacts are not meant for use with dimmers. I thought anyway.

These were built for use with dimming balasts so they work perfectly. somewhere I have a pic of the bulb, I'll see if I can dig it up.

Edit:

 

[gomezladdams]

Tank that wide you could fit 4 or 5 shoplights under there. or you could run 24 or 30" tubes front to back keep adding tubes till you like the light level.if you were going planted id say t5 are the way to go not planted save your money.

 

[IRoman]

I just went through the same problem of installing lights onto a wooden canopy and still making it look good. If you look through here http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35754 You can see what I did, I used 'carriage' bolts. I painted my canopy so it turned out really well but if you are staining your canopy you could just paint the top of the bolts brown or something similiar to your type of wood

 

[big train]

go to home depot get a t5 phillips natural sunlight full spectrum flo tube they are 10 buchs for a 4 footer the tank will look sweet lol.

 

[Xanatost]

Looks good.

 

[Hakon]

T5 or HQI