20 gallon high with Eclipse 2 hood, Flourite substrate.

Over the past couple of weeks I've seen the health and appearance of
my plants failing. They're hanging on, barely, but they're not healthy
or growing well. I'm terribly jealous of the folks who get to see
pearling, or who have to trim their plants back weekly. Heck, I'm
jealous of the folks whose plants simply look nice.

So I've hit Google and looked into adding lighting to my system, in a
minimal hardware-impact way.

Currently, it looks like I'm going to be going for the following from
AH Supply (www.ahsupply.com):

2 x 13 Watt Deluxe Bright Kit ($29.99)
Two 6400K bulbs ($4.99 each)

Assuming I don't incur hospital or funeral expenses, it'll run me $40
plus shipping and incidentals.

Combined with the existing 30 watts that come standard on the Eclipse,
this will make for a total of 56 watts. And perhaps as importantly,
it'll put more light in the center and rear of the tank where it's
very much needed. The Eclipse lighting is all at the front, and it
shows in the plants - what growth there has been has all leaned
forward.

The deluxe kit mentioned above is two complete lighting fixtures
(including transformers) and a single reflector. The incidentals I'll
need are some stiff wire to make hanging hooks, and a piece of glass
or acrylic to serve as a splash guard.

The whole thing should be able to just fit into the space between the
existing front light fixture and the rear filtration unit. It'll leave
me a bit of room at one end for feeding, and lift out easily for tank
maintenance.


Anyone have any experience or suggestions to add?



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www.ericschreiber.com