Hi all,

Thanks for the reference to ahsupply.com. I checked them out, and sounds
pretty reasonable (besides, I can get the right bulb color instead of
suffering through 9325K or something not optimal for a year)

how difficult is it to retrofit the existing all-glass strip lighting
housing with the ahsupply retrofit kit? has anyone done it with single 55W
kit?

also, can I hook this ballast on a timer and will it turn on/off? (some
fluorescent lamps don't work well like this..)

linda

----------
In article , "Dustin"
wrote:


Hi There,

I recommend Ahsupply -
I bought from them, their product seems great. I had a problem, one of the
bulbs broke during transit, they replaced it at no charge!


Dustin
"linda mar" wrote in message
...
Hi,

thanks for your reply!

I guess I better buy the glass hood (the one that has two clear glass
piece
that folds using a plastic strip along the length of the hood, and with
plastic strip at back where you can cut openings for tubes, etc)

The oceanic CF light seems to have a polished reflector.. or at least the
photo I see shows it (and somehow I've read that it's polished aluminum,
but
I can't find where I read that)

see pictu

http://www.thatpetplace.com/cgi-bin/...2185469&T1=F52
+0068+0278&TRAN85=Y&EDP=24347&PRT=D

I would assume if Oceanic has polished metal refelctor, it's better than
the
white (better reflectivity)

linda

"kush" wrote in message
...
The All-glass hood... let's see, how can I put this? It sucks. No,
that's
not harsh enough. There's no sense spending money to upgrade to cf if
none
of the watts find their way into the water. What passes for a reflector
(white plastic!) is a joke and the canopy window frame blocks a good
part
of
the light. I'm not familiar with the Oceanic product.

I fitted my 30" tanks with UltraLife "Sunspots" which I think are just
relabeled CustomSeaLife product. Nice fixture, great reflector. Check
out
the CustomSeaLife BriteLites which are, I think the equivalent product
($110
at http://www.vmarine.com/aquariadepot - the lamp that comes with it is
10,000k so, unfortunately, you'll probably want to buy another bulb,
too).

Or look at www.ahsupply.com. You can get a kit to retrofit your
existing
hood with cf bulbs and a really good reflector for about half the price
of
an assembled hood.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

If you've already got the
linda mar wrote in message
...
Hi all,

Since I'm planning to get plants, I've been looking at compact
fluorescent
light strips to fit on my 30" tank. And the product definition of the
lighting fixture is confusing me a bit

so far, oceanic and all-glass has 55W CF strip to fit on my hood for
about
$80.

my question is, on the description for both product, it says "use only
above
glass hood, not over open water".

does this mean, that I can use it over the standard hood (I think it's
made
of plastic.. not glass) or do I have to replace it with all-glass
hood?

also, do you have any recommendation for/against either companies?
(oceanic
vs all-glass). Currently I have the all-glass deluxe full hood (came
with
the tank), so I would assume I should get all-glass product.

linda

On Mon, 13 Jan 2003 23:34:54 -0800, "LM" wrote:

Hi all,

Thanks for the reference to ahsupply.com. I checked them out, and sounds
pretty reasonable (besides, I can get the right bulb color instead of
suffering through 9325K or something not optimal for a year)

how difficult is it to retrofit the existing all-glass strip lighting
housing with the ahsupply retrofit kit? has anyone done it with single 55W
kit?

also, can I hook this ballast on a timer and will it turn on/off? (some
fluorescent lamps don't work well like this..)

linda

----------

The ballast will work fine on a timer. I don't know about the All
Glass hood, I have redone several, but not that one. Not too bad if
you have patience. One thing I don't like about the AHSupply kits is
the screws, I use machine screws I get from West Marine Supply,
stainless steel.
_

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

In article , "LM"
wrote:

Hi all,

Thanks for the reference to ahsupply.com. I checked them out, and sounds
pretty reasonable (besides, I can get the right bulb color instead of
suffering through 9325K or something not optimal for a year)

how difficult is it to retrofit the existing all-glass strip lighting
housing with the ahsupply retrofit kit? has anyone done it with single 55W
kit?

I did just that not too long ago on my All-Glass 30". Replacing the 20W
single tube with the 55W CF was no problem. The housing was a little
tight but it fit, with the ballast located on the back (outside) of the
strip. I'd recommend installing the optional 1" vents on either end
since the housing is a little tight it can get warm. The 6400K bulb I'm
using provides plenty of good quality light, everything looks way better
and my plants are actually starting to grow!

ahsupply sent along good simple directions and all the wire nuts,
grommets and such I needed.

also, can I hook this ballast on a timer and will it turn on/off? (some
fluorescent lamps don't work well like this..)

I'm doing that, works just fine.

I retrofitted the twin-strips on my 75 gallon with an AHSupply kit. First,
the disclaimer: I'm a moron. It took me two or three times longer than it
would have taken a real person and I had to send the children out of the
house so they wouldn't hear my language...

By using the white plastic "reflector"/mounting assembly you will find when
you disassemble your All-glass hood, you can mount the ballast inside the
hood right where the standard ballast was and you will find pre-formed screw
holes in all the right places. The trade-off is that the ahsupply parabolic
reflector will be about 1/4" too deep for the hood which will be problematic
if you intend to just lay it on top of the tank. I'm still using my
All-glass canopy on that tank so I just kind of bend the reflector to fit
into the proper space and poke it with a dinner knife until it pops in. I
had to mount it that way because, having the two strips, the ballasts and
wiring would have interfered with each other otherwise, or I would have had
to have been clever or competent or something.

Speaking of clever, as I recollect AHSupply would have sent instructions
specifically for retrofitting an All-glass hood had I been clever enough to
have asked for them.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

LM wrote in message
...
Hi all,

Thanks for the reference to ahsupply.com. I checked them out, and sounds
pretty reasonable (besides, I can get the right bulb color instead of
suffering through 9325K or something not optimal for a year)

how difficult is it to retrofit the existing all-glass strip lighting
housing with the ahsupply retrofit kit? has anyone done it with single
55W
kit?

also, can I hook this ballast on a timer and will it turn on/off? (some
fluorescent lamps don't work well like this..)

linda

----------
In article , "Dustin"
wrote:


Hi There,

I recommend Ahsupply -
I bought from them, their product seems great. I had a problem, one of
the
bulbs broke during transit, they replaced it at no charge!


Dustin
"linda mar" wrote in message
...
Hi,

thanks for your reply!

I guess I better buy the glass hood (the one that has two clear glass
piece
that folds using a plastic strip along the length of the hood, and with
plastic strip at back where you can cut openings for tubes, etc)

The oceanic CF light seems to have a polished reflector.. or at least
the
photo I see shows it (and somehow I've read that it's polished
aluminum,
but
I can't find where I read that)

see pictu


http://www.thatpetplace.com/cgi-bin/...2185469&T1=F52
+0068+0278&TRAN85=Y&EDP=24347&PRT=D

I would assume if Oceanic has polished metal refelctor, it's better
than
the
white (better reflectivity)

linda

"kush" wrote in message
...
The All-glass hood... let's see, how can I put this? It sucks. No,
that's
not harsh enough. There's no sense spending money to upgrade to cf if
none
of the watts find their way into the water. What passes for a
reflector
(white plastic!) is a joke and the canopy window frame blocks a good
part
of
the light. I'm not familiar with the Oceanic product.

I fitted my 30" tanks with UltraLife "Sunspots" which I think are
just
relabeled CustomSeaLife product. Nice fixture, great reflector. Check
out
the CustomSeaLife BriteLites which are, I think the equivalent
product
($110
at http://www.vmarine.com/aquariadepot - the lamp that comes with it
is
10,000k so, unfortunately, you'll probably want to buy another bulb,
too).

Or look at www.ahsupply.com. You can get a kit to retrofit your
existing
hood with cf bulbs and a really good reflector for about half the
price
of
an assembled hood.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

If you've already got the
linda mar wrote in message
...
Hi all,

Since I'm planning to get plants, I've been looking at compact
fluorescent
light strips to fit on my 30" tank. And the product definition of
the
lighting fixture is confusing me a bit

so far, oceanic and all-glass has 55W CF strip to fit on my hood
for
about
$80.

my question is, on the description for both product, it says "use
only
above
glass hood, not over open water".

does this mean, that I can use it over the standard hood (I think
it's
made
of plastic.. not glass) or do I have to replace it with all-glass
hood?

also, do you have any recommendation for/against either companies?
(oceanic
vs all-glass). Currently I have the all-glass deluxe full hood
(came
with
the tank), so I would assume I should get all-glass product.

linda

Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc:136098 rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants:65167

Although a retrofit is a great way to upgrade your lighting to something way
better for less money, it does involve a bit of work, especially if you want
to shoehorn it into a AGA strip light fixture.

You typically have to mount the ballast on the outside of the fixture
because of the size of the ballast, reflector and bulbs. Most mount it on
the back of the fixture and need to drill holes to get the wires into the
fixture, etc... If you want a switch, you will have to wire it in
separately, but you can use a timer to control the lights w/o a switch.

I had a 30" CSL SmartLite over my AGA 54g corner for a bit before I added
medium light plants and it worked fine. Sold it when I upgraded to a larger,
higher wattage light. Nice metal fixture and it had an on/off switch. It
costs more than the AHSupply retrofit, but it doesn't have any of the
hassles either.

It all comes down to how much work you want to put into it and aesthetics.


"LM" wrote in message
...

how difficult is it to retrofit the existing all-glass strip lighting
housing with the ahsupply retrofit kit? has anyone done it with single
55W
kit?