cheap effective 10g hood

[varpanus]

ok in a 10g setup you really don't need 4,000w of lighting, so I made a simple cheap setup that provides 40W of 50/50 pc lighting.

materials
~~~~~~~~~
1 cheap 10g 17w florescent hood (walmart $10?)
double ended lamp fixture kit(home depot $5)
a pair of scissors(don't run wit 'em!)
the electrical cord for the fixture(home depot $2)
2xcoralife pc 20w 50/50s(premiumaquatics.com(like $15 a piece)
the cover that came with your 10g from walmart(cheapo)

step 1
i started by taking all the 4 screws out of the exsisting hood.
then I cut the power cord inside(black and white wires)
take the switch out of the back and the grommet for the power wire

then you're left with nothing but the plastic shell

step 2
put the double ended lamp socket inside the hood
you gotta kinda screw it in the power cord hole in the back so it fits, but it does fit fairly nicely

the little metal pullcord will still be inside the hood,you can not put a cover on it and use the cover of the tank as your cover,but i dunno about the intelligence in that.(electricityvs.water)
there's also a little nut kinda thing on the pullcord side take that off
i took a screwdriver and scrapped out a little bit of the metal inside the nut to get the 2 wires from the light to fit through
now screw that nut outside the hood onto the powercord screw to hold the fixture in place on the hood

step 3
but connect the wires to the lamp cord
heat shrink or electrical tape the exposed wires for electrocution purposes

step4
screw in the 2 bulbs(before you go to step 5!)

step 5
this step is kinda optional
take the lid for the 10g tank and take that piece of clear plastic out of it
attach it to the bottom of the hood however you wish.
I think I'll hinge it so I can open and close to change bulbs

step 6
turn it on and see if it works!



TOny

 

[Meche]

ok in a 10g setup you really don't need 4,000w of lighting

O RLY?

Your forgetting my philosophy: If a lot is good and more is better, then too much is just enough. :lol:

No really, it looks good.

 

[Krish]

Sounds great Tony! I think that will work out great for that size tank otherwise you'd just end up just cooking things especially if you plan to put corals up high on top of your live rock. I'll keep an eye out for those pics when it is all said and done. Good luck

 

[shallowreef]

Thats a really good idea.

I would love to see a finished product so hurry up and find that camera!

 

[Scooterman]

Hey sometimes cheap is good, take some picture when your done

 

[varpanus]

i moved the pics to the main post for ease of reading..^^

 

[Krish]

Looks cool Tony! I think it will work just fine! So are these still the bulbs you plan on using?

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...en=PROD&Product_Code=ESU-54210&Category_Code=

 

[varpanus]

yea. they make 20w versions of those. I am thinking that 2 of those in that hood would be a fairly effective lighting setup. although,i'm not sure if I need to use a reflective backing on this or not.i like the idea of having the 2 vents on top for the spare heat to escape,but I dunno

 

[ronj]

that sounds like it will work out!!! i would like to see the end product pics!!!

 

[Krish]

i'm not sure if I need to use a reflective backing on this or not

Good point...I think you will need a refector of some sort to direct the light downwards into the tank otherwise you will waste a lot of it

 

[shallowreef]

Yeah if you can do a reflector it will only make matters even beter.

 

[Brenden]

A reflector will also minimize how hot the black plactic will get. Just a piece of flashing and some metal polish will do wonders.

 

[robinsonfam1]

i did a very similar mod to a mini-bow hood. it built up so much heat i had to add a 1.5" fan to it whichworked great!
those screw-ins get very hot at the base since the ballast is in there. careful not to touch them when lit up!

looks good!

 

[shallowreef]

do you hav any pics of yours?

 

[Meche]

i did a very similar mod to a mini-bow hood. it built up so much heat i had to add a 1.5" fan to it whichworked great!
those screw-ins get very hot at the base since the ballast is in there. careful not to touch them when lit up!

I'm very interested too, just bought a 6gal bow for a qt tank. But it looks too cool to be a qt tank so I might go for a nano.

 

[varpanus]

you can easily cut out a port on both sides and add your small fans. you can even wire the 2 sets of leds inside the hood with the hole you got for the fans.put the fan on the right facing out and the one on the left facing in. i'm workin right now on a smal board for 5blue leds and 5 white. i'll get some pics up soon on the progress.

 

[robinsonfam1]

i have one of the biggest POS cameras ever. i will borrow and post pics this weekend, i have a lot of pics to take.....stuff to sell, build,,,etc....

BR

 

[pitlife79]

I just modified a mini bow 2.5 gallon to accomodate the mini compact 20w bulb. I took apart the 10g hood, swapped out the socket (the mini bow's original socket is only rated up to 15w) cut out all the plastic pieces in the hood and moved everything back so the bulb fit. Looks pretty good. Nice and bright for the tank.

 

[varpanus]

small update.
I didn't like the fact that the pull chain switch was going to be inside the hood, so I did a slight mod. i cut away the whole switch, and wired in the switch that came with the light. the black rubber switch that fits on the back of the hood. it makes for a cleaner install. I just found 2 80mm dc computer fans, so there'll be another update soon. just for fun, I'll get a couple of pics up before I go to work today. lol. cheers!

 

[varpanus]

here's a quick update. this is complete with bulbs installed.


http://imageshack.us