Ah, YEA! I finished my aquarium hood this weekend! (actually it's not
finished, but close)

I had two 15W floroescent tubes for my 55g....... I build a aquarium
hood and installed a Workhorse 7 electronic ballast and four 48" - 40W
tubes..... 160WATTS WOOHOO!

Actually the tubes I am using, I stole out of my shop lights.... Less
than ideal I know..... all in due time though.

Do0d, in the famous words of George Booth "the only reason you need that
much light is if you are growing banned botanicals at the base of your
tank". I would recommend that lighting setup for a seasoned gardener but for
a beginner this is going to be an extremely "tight" setup. You better make
sure you have ample co2 and dose ferts liberally. IME you will do MUCH
better at half that amount of light and it gives you room to roam too. One
slip and your beautiful planted tank will end up being an algae plantation.
Get your routine sorted first b4 blasting all that light. It will do your
electric bills good too! I'm not saying it can't be done all I'm saying is
that you're weaving yourself into a very tight spot.

Regards
Cameron
--
"In the beginning, God said the four-dimensional divergence of an
antisymmetric,
second rank tensor equals zero, and there was Light , and it was good."

"spiral_72" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ah, YEA! I finished my aquarium hood this weekend! (actually it's not
finished, but close)

I had two 15W floroescent tubes for my 55g....... I build a aquarium
hood and installed a Workhorse 7 electronic ballast and four 48" - 40W
tubes..... 160WATTS WOOHOO!

Actually the tubes I am using, I stole out of my shop lights.... Less
than ideal I know..... all in due time though.