hoppycalif

I have a 10 gallon tank I plan to experiment with, first with a non-CO2 approach. But, the light is a single tube 17 watt fluorescent bulb. This could be enough, but it might not be, and the bulb is buried in a narrow white plastic slot - no reflector to speak of. So, as a fun project I am modifying it to use two spiral CFL bulbs, first two 15 watt bulbs, 6500 K. And, I am putting in a DIY reflector. First, the Perfecto Hood:

and its removable light fixture:



Notice that the light uses a starter and a magnetic ballast.

I removed the light parts, which involves unscrewing 4 screws and cutting the wires:


Then to the hardware store for parts: the sockets, ceramic ones to best resist any heat, a package of threaded nipples and matching nuts, and the bulbs:



A lot of studying of the housing, how it was shaped and how the bulbs would fit inside, and a lot of sketches, and I decided I needed a 6 inch by 14 inch piece of aluminum sheet, so I went back to the hardware store for that, then marked it for cutting and used tin snips to cut it:



The first photo shows the surface of the aluminum sheet before I started trying to make a mirror finish on it. The second, the opposite side, shows it after using 220 grit sandpaper, followed by fine grit coated cleaning pads, followed by #0000 steel wool equivalent polishing pads, rubbing with toothpaste, and using commercial metal polish on it. Still not close to being a mirror.