I use a shoplight, but NOT for my primary tank lighting. I have a 4ft
double tube fixture from Home Depot suspended from the ceiling above the
tank. I have this light come on about 30 minutes before my CF lights come
on to provide a sunrise affect and leave it on for about the same amount of
time after the CF lights go out. This works great and provides the fish
with a gradual increase and decrease in light. The light is about 18" above
the tank and provides only enough light to ease the fish out/into darkness.

it also makes a nice room light in my spare bedroom where my tanks are and
is nice at night when working on the computers.

=)


...


I was running many searches on lighting, then saw some reference
about cheap shop lights in aquaria related groups and that was rather
disappointing. Who here uses cheap shop lights for their aquarium
lighting? I'm curious to know how many of you are paying a lot for
specialty lamps only to cheap out on the fixture that doesn't get the
best out of lamps.

Avoid the $9.99 Lights of America shop light. This thing reduces
lamp life dramatically.

Avoid any other cheap shoplights and residential grade fluorescent
fixtures. These fixtures have a cheap, low output ballast that operates
the lamps at 40 to 60% of rated power. 70% if you're lucky. This is
especially true for newer sub$10 shop lights.

You can get a commercial fixture or install a commercial grade ballast
in your pre-existing fixture. It is more expensive, but you will get
about 95% output while giving full lamp life.

Mostly people like me to whom the price is more important than the quality of
the light. don't be such an elitist. Not every one can afford the best. some of
us have to settle for what we can afford.

Moon
remove nospam from e-mail to send to me, I grow trees in aquariums like bonsai.
I breed dwarf crayfish, great for planted community tanks. If you can get me a
shovelnose sturgeon fingerling (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) no wild caught
please, contact me

"AC/DCdude17" wrote in message
...


Moontanman wrote:

Mostly people like me to whom the price is more important than the
quality of
the light. don't be such an elitist.

I'm hardly being an elitist. I'm simply bringing it to the attention that
you're
wasting the potential of the expensive aquarium lamps. You'll only get
half the
output and you'll have to use twice as many fixtures to get the same
output.
Considering the price of the lamps, you're actually not saving anything
from having
to buy twice as many.

Not every one can afford the best.

I think you're thinking it's way more expensive than it really is. Adding
a
commercial grade ballast will set you back $12 and gives you 1.5 to 2
times the
light output per lamp relative to cheapo shoplight. That's two expensive
lamps you
have to buy, so you actually save. Just because residental grade ballast
runs at
lower power doesn't mean lamps last longer. You need twice as many lamps
on
shoplight to get the same output as lamps running on commercial grade
ballast,
therefore that's twice as many lamps you have to replace periodically,
either that
or you cheap out on $12 and deal with only getting 50% power out of these
expensive
lamps.

some of
us have to settle for what we can afford.

^read the above




over my 77g heavily planted tank I have one double strip light with 2 x 40 w
G.E plant bulbs and one cheapo shoplight from Home Depot with 2 x 40 w
Sylvania Gro Lux. I have injected CO2. The plant growth is very good. I have
the same shoplight over a 33g heavily planted livebearer tank and one over
two 20g tanks that sit on a stand side by side. All tanks have excellent
plant growth. The 20's are not using CO2 at all. Those cheap lights may not
be the best but everything I have planted so far has grown.

Rick

I think Shop lights do just fine,
im using two shop lights with cheapo GE plant & aquarium, sunshine and
daylight deluxe bulbs and they grow all my plants very well....maybe a
little too well

see for yourself...
http://members.rogers.com/robertng/plantedc.jpg
65 gallon tank, 48x18x18






...


I was Yes running many searches on lighting, then saw some reference
about cheap shop lights in aquaria related groups and that was rather
disappointing. Who here uses cheap shop lights for their aquarium
lighting? I'm curious to know how many of you are paying a lot for
specialty lamps only to cheap out on the fixture that doesn't get the
best out of lamps.

Avoid the $9.99 Lights of America shop light. This thing reduces
lamp life dramatically.

Avoid any other cheap shoplights and residential grade fluorescent
fixtures. These fixtures have a cheap, low output ballast that operates
the lamps at 40 to 60% of rated power. 70% if you're lucky. This is
especially true for newer sub$10 shop lights.

You can get a commercial fixture or install a commercial grade ballast
in your pre-existing fixture. It is more expensive, but you will get
about 95% output while giving full lamp life.