richms

They have them, but not at the $5 that the 2 and the 4 foots cost which is what the orig issue was with 3 foots.

6500k tho? I have found heaps in the pinkish 4000k, and even some 2700k, no 6500k at a decent price tho...

Dave Kelly clearly is not a cat servant to have an open tank like that

3' isnt a standard size for general lighting, 2' and 4' are used in the cieling tile lights in offices so they go thru heaps of them, and 5'ers are common in hanging batten fittings, 3' ones are the bastard child of the lighting industry, not as unwanted as the oddball 2'6" ones.

Unless you can measure the current the light is drawing its quite risky to just attach random adapters and call it working fine. While most extra low voltage adapters are current limited and have thermal protection in them, there is always a chance that you have one that doesn't, and overloading it may cause an "unplanned fire"

What you describe will not work. Please just buy a ready made solution for this because if you think that it will work you have not got enough of an understanding to make anything safely to do it.

t5 lets you go denser without the problems of light not escaping from between the tubes, they have more watts per tube (so long as you dont get the low output ones that most places stock in bare battens) and are electronicly controlled always so are more efficiant. t8 is cheaper, about the same efficiancy if on electronic gear and can be picked up a hell of a lot cheaper if you are happy to go magnetic.

The suckky cup things that glaziers use to move a pane of glass into place are great to stick to the bottom of the tank and then pull it up to get things under it as well. I used one at my old work that was kept for lifting the floor tiles in the server room one weekend and it was way easier then trying to rock the tank to slip something under.

Watch it with electronic ballasts tho, they have a length limit to cut down on interference because of the higher frequancy. All you gotta do it trash some old biddys analog tv1 reception or am reception and you will have the MED people around to discuss it. Guy i knew a while back had that issue with a switching power supply on the end of a long cable to run a wireless access point. If they are magnetic and have starters then be aware that there will be quite a strong field come from the cables when it starts. Try to keep the cables parallel to minimize this, and if you are runnign the starters back to the remote equiment then dont use a seperate 2 core for each end, have one that comes back to the starter, and one that takes care of the power to/from the tube. Run them parallel to the tube in the hood and exit all at the same point. Then again, since it only happens when you start the tubes, you could just accept that its going to make pops and clicks from your stereo when it starts.

Yeah, thats the same justification they use on those LED based grow lights, just having the right peaks to grow plants without the wasted light like the son-t agros also make. Funnily enough at the prices the added efficiency means that no one really buys them. cant really use on an aquarium because they look so damn ugly. I know that the reason I want the tank lit is so that it looks nice, and thr brightness from the 865 was way more pleasing to look at then the higher CRI of the 965's, which were too weak to even light my workspace. I couldn't really see things looking better under them either, but it may be different for someone looking at paint charts or fabric which is what they advertise them as being good for

Don't bother, take care of the sunlight and the algae will stop growing. No ongoing running costs for curtains either I'm going to have to get my windows tinted with people always leaving the curtains open!

Check the brightness of them, the last time this came up some figures were posted so perhaps see if you can search them out (for the 965 philips tubes) and see what the output of these other tubes compares. It was quite a bit lower then 865 tubes when compared. I sure didn't find them bright enough to light my garage when I got a couple, they cost a hell of a lot more and I couldn't see any difference in how things looked.

I have seen T9 in circular tubes only.

How do you mount a desktop fan in the thing so that it can blow over the tubes and ballast? the smallest desktop fan I have seen is about 180mm diameter. Computer fan has mounts, is thinner and is only 80mm typically.

Airflow will do it, you can put holes in the top to allow some convection thru the hood, this will also need somewhere to pull air into it. Otherwise you are looking at some computer fans. They cost stuff all and just need a 12v powerpack to run them. Don't bother looking for mains fans, they cost much more and tend to hum when running

Magnetic ones run hot, and don't really mind, electronic ones run much cooler and don't really appreciate being heated up too much. If the hood is made of wood or mdf it may warp with the constant temperature difference between sides of the wood.

I dunno, the top is inside the sides, and if its also inside the back then it will be putting sheer stresses on the staples or whatever its held together with. Since the central divider is stapled in place, its fair to assume the whole thing will be done like that. The front center support will be fine since its under the tabletop.

How much vacuum could the fish tollerate, I am assuming that if you tried for too much they would expand and pop at the top of the tank, not pretty.

No because the 1 watt would never get it anywhere near warm since the energy loss from the tank will be the same in both cases.

I haven't seen any known brands selling CFLs in wattages that high, and based on my experiences with philips tornado lamps, I would rate them worse then the no brand crap for longevity if anything. And no way will I be putting in a lower K one then 6500 for my workspace - thats the only reason I put up with fluorescent lighting is so I dont have the fatigue inducing orangeness

I havent seen the high wattage ones at bunnings, and the guy at mitre10 mega warned me not to run the 105 watt ones horizontally since they had some where the cap came off them from the weight. At $25 for the 105 watt one, and if you need 2 it makes getting some 6500k tubes and a fitting off the cheap guy on trademe a much more viable option. I have some 105 watt lights in my work area, they are great for lighting the place up but noway near as bright as 500 watts of incandescent like they lead you to believe.

If its too bright, then yeah, plants will solve that problem. If you cut the light output with something less reflective in the hood then you are just wasting power lighting up a dark surface, would be better off with less or lower wattage globes in there.

Can you still get the terracotta hexagon things that were used as ghetto wine racks by people? They would be good for this sort of thing.

No, didnt get around to it since it seems that getting wet discourages the cat. Will measure again and go there on wednesday I think.

With the horrid weather outside, it looks like one of my cats has taken to indoor hunting instead. Anyway, I need to get some lids for the tanks, whats a realistic price to pay for a few pieces of glass about 400mm x 300mm? Anywhere to get them tomorrow??