another 5.5 lighting question....

Straight to the point:

After searching for lightings for two days, and reading many posts, I have not found the solution for the lightings I want.

Somebody please help me find a 26-32 watt 50/50, or seperate actinic lighting which is for a 16" 1/4 rectangle tank. I want to keep evaporation low, so I really want the legs to go with the light fixture, if possible. If anybody has a 5.5, and knows where to buy these complete light fixtures, please post me.

I will be keeping only zoos.

ps: ixney on the 70w mh ney.

I built a wood hood, painted it black and installed a few 20w coralife mini 50/50 PC bulbs in it. They are self ballasted, so you dont need a ballast or anything, just a mogul (screw) socket from the hardware store. The wiring is easy, you just hook the bulbs up in parallel on a lamp cord. I will be posting pictures soon (hopefully). I really havent found anything else to use on a 5.5.

"ps: ixney on the 70w mh ney."

oops, I forgot to suggest that... you should mount a 500w metal halide pendant over your 5.5... then you can kill two birds with one stone. You can have your tank, and also use it to cook your pasta. That salt water makes tasty pasta :-)

thanks for the comments, but I do not really want to custom build my canopy hood.

I though about the mini 50/50 compacts already, had I gone that route, it would have been simple, and I would be done with my lightings by now. I have seen a couple of these custom hoods with flouresent twist in bulbs, built in ballast setups, in a couple of posts, probably in the "calling all 5.5 gallon" tread.

What I really want is something sleek looking, to set on top of my 5.5 rectangle aga.

500w mh over a 5.5? pasta? thats crazy. I don't think I would like to eat seafood pasta out of my fish tank. Besides Instant Ocean salt is not for human consumption.

i'm not sure the solution you are looking for is out there. most everything i think i've heard of "plug & play" is sized for like a 10 and higher.

i do have a coralife mini aqualight, which is 18 watts, should be enough for zoo's but, no leg accessories that i'm aware. i use one for a little on my 5.5 while i finished my pendant. i jsut placed it on top a piece of glass.

I searched all over the net, and I have seen one picture on the About saltwater aquarium page with one 5.5 aga that had a light fixture mounted with legs. I guess it was a 20" lighting setup, i couldn't tell.

There has got to be somebody out there that has bought a lighting fixture that just fits ontop of a 5.5 rectangle. This seach for the lighting fixture has become almost Mission Immposible.

Thank you for the heads up on the Coralife mini aqualight, I will think about that. If I had to, I think I would have to do a custom built hood fixture job as a last resort. If I had to do that, I think I would take the 24w out of my 88w nano cube, and use it for the 5.5, dunno.

I will do some more searching, i think i found something. Some body said they used a desktop jbj fermosa 48w.

then again, i read that jbj lights are crap.....sigh

Still searching.....

Current USA has a 12" 18w ,12" 2x18w,20" 40w ,and 20" 2x40 watt fixtures.

where did you see those?

I spend 4 hours a day everyday searching for lighting for my 5.5. , Im serious, it has become a part time job.

12" 2x18w sounds nice, let me at them!

Get the 28w aqualight w/ some legs n let it hang over a bit...or

i dont know how desperate you are b/c this may seem a little ghetto but you can get two of these babies from a store near ya.....

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/pro...ckOID=536937071

then get two of these......

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc...ategory_id=1845

yep that is ghetto, and you know what? I thought of both of those ideas already!

I was thinking of getting a clamp on lamp which can support a 25 watt scew in bulb, then screw in the 20 50/50 mini flourescent. I am thinking that might cause a spot light rather than spreading the light out evenly. Then I thought about getting the 20" 28w aqualight with the legs, but it will look so big, coming off the sides of my 5.5 tank and look gheto, yes?

I just can't seem to find a way to do it right, besides building a DIY hood which I don't want to do because I am lazy.

Btw ARIE...I was drinking alittle and....I was staring at your avatar....wow...so neat looking.

I finally gave up, and decided to do the ghetto light set up you suggested. I ordered the mini flourescent 50/50 20w screw in bulb. Later on today I will stop by some fish stores to find the incandescent light strip that can fit that bult in there. I sure hope it fits.

Here it is, my diy light strip for my 5.5 nano reef. I already painted the whole thing flat black.

Fyi, this is actually a rain gutter with end caps.

end caps painted.

This is wat i put on my 5.5 gal

My Pc's

this is what it looks like

That was a bad picture heres a better one

That was a bad picture heres a better one

I still can not see, it's too dark. Looks like the canopy everybody makes.

Nice rock work, all tonga branches??

Mine will have a Coralife Mini Compact 50/50 Lamp 20 Watt under the hood. Had I not purchased the mini compact already, I would have bought a 32w csl retrofit, but my mind is made up. 20 watts should be enough for a 5.5 gallon tank with only zoos.

I still have two reflectors form my 32w retrofits. The reflectors fit perfectly inside the light strip hood.

Just thought i would give you another option. I did custom build the hood out of pine and it only took 1-1/2 hrs. It took longer to paint it then it did to make it.

And the inside

Did you look at Marine Depot?

Try this:

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp...dproduct=CL1910

I have a pair of 32w PCs over my 5g eclipse. I got a retrofit kit from MD and am very pleased with it.

Good Luck,

Fred

Here is the reflector installed. The light bulb I used is just an ordinary 23w which I later changed out with a 13w for temporary use, until my 20w 50/50 comes in.

When I was at Home Depot I couldn't find the type of screw in small socket that everybody was using for their diy hoods, so I found this socket fixture that has a switch in it. The socket was very easy to mount, as all I had to do was drill a hole, stick the switch knob through the hole, and tighten the socket down to the hood with a nut that came with it.

note: see the yellow color of the light? ack, ugly.

Okay here is the final picture I will put up. It is what the hood looks like on top of my 5.5 gallon tank. The light strip sits ontop of glass. I edited the color of the light because it was really ugly yellow.

Without the glass, the light strip will sit on the inside rails of the black plastic lip cover.

Lookin good! I really like the idea og the rain gutter, Aree you going to install any fans?

yeah I have too, I monitored my temperture from time to time, and the highest the temperture is 82F. I will get a 40mm fan installed, and have it exhaust the hot air. I wanted to install the fans ontop, but the reflector is in the way, so I think on the side or the back of the hood is where I will place a fan.

Update:

I have just finished adding a 50mm fan to the hood. I took the fan off a celeron heatsink, that explains why it is a rare 50mm, and not 40mm fan, anyways it runs super silent. The fan spins so quiet that I can not hear it spinning at 6 volts.

The fan is used to exhaust the hot air, not intake cool air. I hope this helps bring the heat down.

I will post one more pic, so all can see the fan.