[xtremefour]

I have a couple of questions so please guide me....

I made my own DIY light using a shop light from HD. I went out last night and had enought money for one 48" T8 Aqua Glo bulb. When I put the bulb in only the very ends light up and my balast makes a buzzing noise. I had done some reading about rapid fire balast verse electronic balast. Mine is a rapid fire. I am assuming this is why my bulb will not light. I put a crappy regular 48" in there and it worked fine.

Question: Should I return the bulb and go to HD for some of their bulbs? I heard they had good bulbs for plants.

I heard that I could use the wires that would be for the 2nd bulb and wire it up for the first bulb so it would "overload" and I could still use the bulb i bought. Is that right? Can I just go buy an electronic balast to do both lights?

My tank is in severe need of light. I have a 75 gal at the moment with two 15 watt Aqua Glo lights. This is what was given to me when I bought the tank.


Thanks you,


Matt

 

[xtremefour]

The bulbs that I had in there from HD were just your run of the mill 40 watt bulbs. The T8 bulb I picked up is also a 40 watt bulb. The light fixture said that it accepts 25, 34 and 40 watt bulbs.

I have a feeling that the problem is the balast being a rapid fire and not an electronic balast.

Does anyone know about the bulbs from HD that I can use for an aquarium. I am on a budget...

Thank you for your help,



Matt

 

[xtremefour]

Wow, thanks for all the help guys. I was able to get it figured out. Or at least for it to work.

I went back to the LFS and the guy exchanged it out for a different T8 bulb that was 8000K and said that it was compatible with electronic or magnetic ballast. I put the bulb in and it works great.

I then went over to HD and found a Phillips Sunshine bulb I think it said that was 5500K in a T12. It was $5.67 and bought it. I hooked it up and it woked also. The only thing I dont like is that it has a greenish yellow cast to it. I am going to go over and look at some of the bulbs you recommended.

Should I look at getting a 6500K or a 10,000k bulb since I already have an 8000k.

Matt

 

[xtremefour]

Thaks for all the help guys. I will be getting a 6500 T8 GE Daylight Deluxe tomorrow. I bought a large bottle of excel the other night also since my DIY C02 broke. But that will be fixed this weekend.

Matt

 

[xtremefour]

I went back to HD on saturday with my son and found exactly what I needed. I found a two pack of T8 Sunshine bulbs, I think by Phillips that are 6500K.

So I at the moment have a T8 8000K and a T8 6500K. The tank is really lit up well now. My tank is a 75 gal and I think the bulbs said they were 32 watts each, but I will have to check. When I set the tank up I used a silver background because that was all I had at the time. I know that I have less than 1wpg but it looks awfully bright. I am not to fond of the silver anymore but I think it is helping with the light reflection back into the tank.

I might change to a black background and see what happens.


Matt