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Re: Home Depot shop lights
These lights are what I used to be able to get six 48" lights over my 75
gallon tank. They work great, but they put off a lot of heat when all packed
together like that. I just left on the cheap ballasts and mounted them into a
hood I built with a fully open back to let heat dissipate. I have not yet put
fans in the back, but when I do that will help. As it is, my tank temperature
increases about 5 degrees F over the course of the day, but I can live with
that. If your fish are particularly temperature sensitive, you can add the
electronic ballasts or just use longer wires and mount the ballasts under
your tank stand where the heat won't get to your tank.
Craig (The cheapest man alive)
Wayne writes:
> I was in Home Depot today and saw some interesting shoplights. They were
> only the equivilent of $10 American for 2 lamp 4' fixtures. The sockets
> looked like they were molded into the endpieces of the fixtures and the
> reflector was held in place by the same sockets/fixture ends. They look
like
> an ideal candidate for modifying for aquarium use. The reflector could be
> covered with aluminized mylar and the ballast could be replaced with a high
> quality electronic ballast. The total cost per fixture would only be just
> over $40. They also looked like they were no more than 6" wide which would
> allow 6 lamps to be mounted under a 90 gallon tank hood.