Lighting for a cube aquarium

[ruyle]

Hi Freddy,
I'm wondering what kind of light you had over a cube aquarium that I saw
in a thread (can't remember which one) that looks like it is clipped to the
tank and suspended by a gooseneck. Is it a 20watt 12V DC quartz? I've
cut 3 pieces of glass for a 12" cube and am trying to decide what kind of
lighting I'll have over it. Thanks!

Bill
farang9

[FC]

Hi Bill,

You are looking for a neat solution. You can either use the 20W incandecent lamp with focus lens incorporated (is that what you called quartz?) or a table florescent lamp. The only disadvantage quartz lamp has is the slightly yellowish light but some like it. I think the quartz lamp looks, aesthetically, better.

I find that your post's title which direct specifically to me rather personal. Should you need to ask for my opinion only, may I suggest that you Private Message me. I had removed my name from the title so that others who may have other ideas can share with you too. Thanks.

[ruyle]

Thanks, Freddy,
I'm on my way to Lowes to check out lighting. I want to get the quartz
lighting and Tom Barr mentions a GE color Precise bulb that has the
best color.

My apologies for calling you out by name and of course, PM next time.

Bill
farang9

[hwchoy]

I prefer either an externally mounted (i.e. it has its own stand/pedestal) or twin-legged lights (i.e. two points of mounting on the rim of the tank). I am always afraid those clip-on type lights would fall into the water.

[ruyle]

At WalMart they had three quartz lights with lens mounted in a silver-grey
plastic box which would lend itself to having legs affixed to both ends that
would rest on the rim sides. Had to buy some bulbs anyway for my reading
light (20W, 12v DC) and decided to do some checking on this as an alternative to pc lighting. All the ones I've seen including the so-called
white light of the constant-color precise GE bulbs have a temp of 2900K to
2950K which would make it yellower than what I'm used to. That and the
fact that the maximum longevity of any of them is 6000 hours gives me
pause: my compact fluorescents last up to 2 years and are effective through most of that limit in lumens. Still, I wonder if the quality of light
is reminiscent of the metal halide: the ripples of the water seen on the substrate, the dramatic shadows, etc. Will have to do some experimenting
and see!

Bill
farang9

[whuntley]

Bill,

Be careful with those multiple halogen lamps. They are still primarily room heaters and put out amazingly little useful light per Watt.

In addition, the last set I got had a little transformer-like box between lamps and wall plug. It wasn't a simple transformer, but an electronic step-down regulator that blasted electrical noise into the air (jammed nearby AM radios) and back into the power line (totally messed up my BSR X-10 controllers).

CFs are so cheap and available that I don't see any need for putting up with halogen lamps around aquaria. Huntsville may be a lot cooler than Bishop, but still it isn't nice to not see fish on a summer evening. [My rough estimate is that one 20W halogen will add about as much heat as three deBruyn filters will remove. ;-)]

BTW, some of the cheaper CFs with screw base are also electrically pretty noisy, and the trickle current used to allow them to sense it and turn on manually when you operate a line switch could make enough noise that my X-10 systems would sometimes turn on all the aquarium lights in the middle of the night. Use a portable AM radio to walk around and find and replace the guilty party.

I like best the single u-tube lamps in 7-13W, in a good AH Supply reflector, operating off a remote magnetic ballast in the line cord. One 9 Watter will easily give as much light as the three halogens, with about 1/8 as much heat.

Wright

[ruyle]

Wright wrote:

[My rough estimate is that one 20W halogen will add about as much heat as three deBruyn filters will remove. ;-)]

yes.....that's a sobering thought indeed I was going to mention the heat factor: my little 20W SEQ bulbs throw off an amazing amount of heat in my reading lights! And Huntsville is not *all* that cooler than Bishop, ROC. I can always use my old standby, the AH Supply 13watters you mentioned. I guess what I was after is a miniature MH that I could suspend over the 12" cube, but they would be costly, even if they were available. Is there such a thing as a 25-30W MH bulb? And they, too,
throw off heat, but not as bad as halogen.

Bill
farang9

[elmike]

I agree with Wright. There’re so many different makes of slide-on or clip-on lamps manufactured specially for small tanks these days that I would question why anyone would want to use MH or tungsten filament bulbs. These miniature aquarium lamps are made to be waterproof and are therefore safer for aquarium use than the ordinary table lamps.

I have a JBL (I think) lamp that I once used on my 1 ft platy tank (came w CF 10 or 11 W?), although it’s now in cold storage (well, I can sell it to you – just kidding ). It once fell into the water and I'm still alive and kicking. :P But just be forewarned that the DC adapter that comes with such make of lamps can get very hot, but that's quite alright.

Bill, maybe you should get off your butt and go on a lfs cruise. You’ll probably be spoilt for choice.

[ruyle]

Mike wrote:

I have a JBL (I think) lamp that I once used on my 1 ft platy tank (came w CF 10 or 11 W?), although it’s now in cold storage (well, I can sell it to you – just kidding ).

That's JBJ, not JBL which is a sound reinforcement company (J.B. Lansing)
there was a poster to APD that cited JBL for lighting and I was bothering
our regional JBL rep for the clip-on brackets for my DIY lights I
told him they were probably mounting brackets for marine speakers
The company I work for has 5 music stores and sells the pro-line JBL. JBJ
is nice stuff, Aqua-Botanic sells their lighting products, among others.

Bill, maybe you should get off your butt and go on a lfs cruise. You’ll probably be spoilt for choice.

As a matter of fact, I have been looking at some Holland America specials
wonder what kind of lfs's Cancun has :wink:

Bill
farang9