DIY CFL Bulb Fixtures

Hey guys, I originally posted this in the DIY forum but because of all the spam nobody can ever see it so i decided to post it here as well. Anyway I am getting ready to set up a 20 gallon tank (with dirt) that I have just sitting around, and since it has no light with it im going to use some CFL spiral light bulbs because of how cheep and effective they can be. What I want to know is how you guys have done it, show me some pictures, what does your hood looks like, did you just use lamps, how many bulbs, and what wattage works the best to achieve a good balance in your tank.

As far as I can see nobody has really adressed this topic on this site and I think it will help out a lot of people who are looking for a cheap lighting solution especially on smaller tanks.

Thanks, Alex

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Comment by Robert Jango on January 25, 2013 at 1:48am: I'm all for DIY. Especially when Petco is pushing their aquarium, made-in-China, "specialty" crap for big bucks. I don't have a picture but I got an electrical strip with four outlets at Home Depot for less than $20. I attached the strip to a wood plank and hung it over the aquarium. It didn't look great but it was OK.

Get bulbs in the 6000K - 7000K range and use between 5 and 40 lumens per square inch of tank surface area depending on whether you want high or low light. The lumens each bulb emits might be listed on the package but, if not, you'll find it online under the company's product description.

Comment by alex9j4m on January 25, 2013 at 11:43pm: Thanks Robert, Im thinking Im going to do 3 pendant lamps hanging about an inch above my tank, if you go to my page and look at the discussion i started about this topic i replied with a attachment showing what it would look like.

Do you think I should run 3 23 watt bulbs on my 20 high because the lights Im using wont provide as much reflection due to three bulbs in a small area Im looking for around medium/high lighting and will be running diy co2, with dirt.

Comment by Robert Jango on January 26, 2013 at 1:13am: A CFL watts packs from 50-70 lumens per watt. So lets round things off and say 70 watts X 60 lumens = 4200 lumens. What is the surface area of your 20 gallon high? (Multiply the length and width to get this number making sure you ignore the tanks height). Once you have the surface area divide it into 4200 and you'll have your lumens per square inch/surface area.

Of course you won't really know if your lighting is too "high" or "low" until you add your plants. They'll soon tell you what they need. (Yes, they talk) I've had people tell me that aquarium plants are tricky. I agree - but no more tricky than terrestrial plants. I had a terrestrial plant that thrived with indirect sunlight from my dining room window. But when I placed it on the other side of the window with the same amount of indirect sunlight it almost died. I had to move it back to save it.

What's up with that??? Unless you're a scientist with direct knowledge of the particular situation, one can only theorize and base future actions on past experiences. Notice how Dustin almost never uses absolutes in his videos. He always says "My experience is this" or "When I had Dwarf Sag that happened" And when he has no direct experience he'll preface his advice with the a clause like, "I must first warn you that I have no experience with this fish but..."

Keep in mind a couple things:

Plants on the bottom of the tank will receive less light than plants on the top. As we have already discussed, the amount of light a bulb gives off is "lumens" but the amount of light actually reaching a plant (especially in the bottom part of the tank) is called PAR. I wouldn't sweat PAR though. Just see how your plants react and make the necessary adjustments. You could either increase/decrease the wattage of your CFLs or increase/decrease the height of your bulbs. Another option for decreasing light is to add floating plants.

As I'm sure you know, sometimes a plant's demise has nothing to do with light. It could be a temporary shock from being moved or it could be adjusting to new water.