# $25 option for a dual bulb 48" T8 setup



## pmkls1 (May 21, 2006)

I just wanted to share my recent find with those who don't have a couple hundred bucks to spend on a lighting setup. I already swapped over to glass canopies on my main 55g tank a while back, but I still had the wimpy little 18" single bulb setups that came with the tank. Today I was shopping at walmart and came across a stainless steel 48" shop light for about $15 that uses 2 T8 bulbs. Then I found a 2 pack of 6500k daylight spectrum T8's for about $10. So I rushed home and set up the light on top of my tank until I can make some stands for it. The oucome looked amazing and all for $25 to boot. I'm posting a pic to show how bright it is. I plan to make some legs to stand it off the aquarium enough to be able to open my canopy doors and also plan to get some better bulbs eventually, but it still looks awesome as it is. Below is a pic, You can see the box the light came in to the right of the tank. I apologize about the image quality but I only currently have a camera phone. I honestly don't see a need to spend hundreds of dollars when $25 got me these results. Anyhow, thats just my opinion.


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## Ravenatnm (Mar 20, 2008)

Home Depot stocks 48" dual bulb shop lights for $9 and stocks many spectrums of T8's. I use that setup for all of my tanks using the 6500K color.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Shop lights are not designed to resist water or humidity and just being near water can cause the ballasts to fail. I've bought a shop light from wallyworld, used it, had to replace one of the two ballasts within the first year.

It's a very useful DIY setup, but just be warned, you certainly get what you pay for. :thumb:


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## Ravenatnm (Mar 20, 2008)

I have mine screwed to the underside of a wood canopy, the tank itself has a glass versatop, there is little chance of moisture getting to the light strip as there is less than a few cups of evaporation over the course of a week. .


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## Pilgrim (Mar 28, 2005)

If it is an electronic ballast you may could silicon all the cracks and openings and make it water resistant.
I think most aquarium fixtures come with a safety slide on the lamp receptacles that prohibits a lamp from accidently falling out of the receptacle into the water. A shop light would not have this feature. Be careful one end of the lamp falls into the water...that's all she wrote.


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## Egress (Feb 20, 2006)

I advise people that want to use a shop light to pick up something other than the Lights of America units that Wal-Mart carries. All three I bought died within a year, similar lights from lowe's are still doing fine three years on. Just pulled them out to start this year's seeds.


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## brianmccord2001 (Apr 9, 2008)

I think this is what I am going to buy when I upgrade...

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none

50 bucks for a 4 bulb T8 fixture....sounds pretty good to me. I have glass tops too, but I will probably take the unit apart to waterproof it.

-Brian


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## briansbelle (May 24, 2008)

i have the same shop light on my 75 gallon. i paid $10 for mine. i also ordered 2 48" 50/50 bulbs for $8.99 each  
my total:
$28..

and i love it, now all i gotta do is build a canopy to hide the light :wink:


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Did you notice any hum on these units?

I've done the same thing on my 90 gal and plan to on my 180. The one thing I was concerned with was that high pitch hum. So didn't want to buy a cheap one. The one I bought was from Tru Value Hardware and I bought it because the box stated it was a silent ballast, it was made out of much thicker steel and it had a very nice finish on it, similer to a nice epoxy finish on a refridgerator. It cost 29.95. But to me the extra $ was worth it. I just hope it holds up for years.

I actually painted it black and set it right on top of my tank. It has a unique rounded shape unlike most shoplights, so it doesn't "look like a shoplight"!


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## briansbelle (May 24, 2008)

mine doesnt hum. and i plan on adding it to the top of my canopy as soon as hubby builds it...


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## weldeng (Jul 20, 2008)

pmkls1 said:


> I just wanted to share my recent find with those who don't have a couple hundred bucks to spend on a lighting setup. I already swapped over to glass canopies on my main 55g tank a while back, but I still had the wimpy little 18" single bulb setups that came with the tank. Today I was shopping at walmart and came across a stainless steel 48" shop light for about $15 that uses 2 T8 bulbs. Then I found a 2 pack of 6500k daylight spectrum T8's for about $10. So I rushed home and set up the light on top of my tank until I can make some stands for it. The oucome looked amazing and all for $25 to boot. I'm posting a pic to show how bright it is. I plan to make some legs to stand it off the aquarium enough to be able to open my canopy doors and also plan to get some better bulbs eventually, but it still looks awesome as it is. Below is a pic, You can see the box the light came in to the right of the tank. I apologize about the image quality but I only currently have a camera phone. I honestly don't see a need to spend hundreds of dollars when $25 got me these results. Anyhow, thats just my opinion.


Will this type of setup provide enough light to grow plants? I read you need 2-3 watts per gallon to be sucessfull.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

weldeng said:


> Will this type of setup provide enough light to grow plants? I read you need 2-3 watts per gallon to be sucessfull.


it is enough for low light plants.

The 2 to 3 watts per gallon "rule of thumb" is rubbish in my experience. Case in point would be these lights... with only a white metal reflector, the 36 to 40W bulbs are generating that much light, and promptly losing a chunk tot he white reflector.

With a polished aluminum reflector per bulb, a good percentage more light is shown downwards... same W/G, but completely different result.

My advice for starting a planted tank is to begin a thread and post your tank size, subsrate, desired list of plants and ask how to acheive. This will allow posters to reply with very useful info to help you get what you want for cheap.

Hope this helps.


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