Place to buy DIY lighting accessories

**stream** · 23rd May 2002, 22:48

Dear Fellow Aquaria Hobbyist in Singapore

If I want to DIY my PL lighting system for a 4x2x2 ft tank, where can I buy most of the items under one shop. I forsee I will need for each PL light:

1xMetal chassis or improvised air-con trunking.
1xReflector
2x36W PL lights
1xElectronic Ballast with specs to service the above lights
connecting cables
switch
connectors
4xPL light holders
wire straps
1xMain Power cable
Plastic Panel to shealth water from lights
Did I miss out something else? I have not done this before. Any advise or things to consider?

Thanks in advance.

**lsz** · 23rd May 2002, 23:23

nature offers all these done at 100$.

now if you DIY,
the 2x36W plus the Eballast will cost 50$
a reflector cheapest i had seen is 11$
rest of cables etc will be at least 10$
if you want a clear plastic panel, the easiest is acrylic. For such a size perhaps 5$

will have to see if the 25$ less is worth the trouble and also the uglier look

**sherchoo** · 24th May 2002, 22:31

Lsz has spoken true..... but in some case some people want to DIY stuff just for the fun/adventure of it. Maybe you're one of them. AQ Nature Aquarium has most of everything you'll need maybe except the housing.

For my DIY 4X36W light I used rain gutter which looked quite nice compared to air con trunking.

Here's some pics of my DIY lights.

4X18W Hitachi EBT for my former 2ft tank.

My 4X36W AEC PL DIY Lights for my 1m tank

Hope this helps

**stream** · 24th May 2002, 23:52

Thanks LSZ and SherChoo for the response. OK, OK, I'm convinced that I should just buy it instead of DIY. Its just that the circuitry looks so simple that I thought I can do it myself.

So for a 4x2x2 ft tank, how many of them 2x36W PL light each do I need? 3 sets? $300 ! [:0}

How do you keep it from falling into the water. I know it comes with some kind of slider at both ends that sits on slot but accident I'm sure do happens. Seems like the only way to prevent that is to dangle it from the ceiling. [

]

**lsz** · 25th May 2002, 00:49

Yeah i feel that DIY is a one time thing... do it once it is really fun but i will choose to buy the rest i need off the shelf!

and Sherwin's one is really nice.

The biggest problem with such DIY lighting is actually to find a suitable outer casing.. and from the pics it can be seen that rain gutter is an excellent choice! i had not thought of it before now and what sherwin does just looks great!

**sherchoo** · 25th May 2002, 01:10

Thanks for the compliment.... frankly speaking for lights nowadays.... buying off the rack is ok cos now price quite competitive already. For bigger tanks, maybe can consider Metal halide lights. Price not too expensive compared to flourescent linghts. With MH, you can have a very nice open concept tank.

For my DIY lights, I really did it to save $$$ and more importantly it was really for interest.

**limpc65** · 25th May 2002, 02:57

Where is this AQ Nature aquarium ?

All these posting about DIY kind of spur me on to DIY a MH or Mercury Vapour light.
Have anyone tried that before ?

Please share your experience.

Thanks.

**sherchoo** · 28th May 2002, 13:57

----------------
On 5/25/2002 2:57:55 AM

Where is this AQ Nature aquarium ?

All these posting about DIY kind of spur me on to DIY a MH or Mercury Vapour light.
Have anyone tried that before ?

Please share your experience.

Thanks.
----------------

Not AQ Nature Aquarium but NA Nature Aquarium

Address:
Blk 1, Thomson Rd
#01-340
Singapore 300001

Phone: 62556051

It is possible to DIY MH. But you have to give alot consideartion what material your using cos the heat for MH is really high.