matthewY Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 I ended up buying a 4 foot light hood without noticing it was a 4 foot one :-( thinking now that I eitehr sell it or cut it down to fit in my 3 food tank. Anyone have any suggestions as to how easy it would be to convert 4 foot light hood to 3 foot one? I figure it would be a simple cut to size (with all the parts / cables removed first, reposition teh fittings for a 3 foot one and change the transformer / ballast. Anyone know if this is going to work / not work? if its worth doing / not worth doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 You probably won't need to change the ballasts or anything. Just cut it down to size and move the fittings. The 3 foot tubes will be overdriven a bit, the 4 foot ballasts usually put out a bit over 100 volts, 3 foots will be less. Just means the tubes may need replaced more often but will be brighter. Of course, 3 foot ballasts should be cheap and easy to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 Sounds like a lot of hard work to me! Wouldn't it be easier just to sell the 4-foot setup and buy a 3-foot one?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewY Posted July 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 Sound quite do-able then. I will investigate once it arrives, see how easy it is to remove the end caps :-) As to selling it, yeah been thinking about it, got it at a good price so could maybe make afew $$$ of it to buy the 3 foot one but issue is no one really seems to sell the 3 foot ones at nice prices... i need pretty much a 2 tube light hood. A bit concerned overall about over driving teh tube thouggh.... hard to predict how long teh tube would last compared to if it wasnt overdriven (tubes can be costly too). Anyone know how much new starters cost for 3 foot tubes? if they are cheap then I might aswell replace that too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 There aren't really 3 foot, 4 foot etc starters. They're usually just rated at a wattage range like 4-80 watts. The starters you should have already will work fine. And even if you needed new starters they're only a couple bucks. Place I bought some tubes from once had a basket full of them next to the till and would give you a handful for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richms Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 Overdriving them will make the ends blacken really quickly - when I was feeding a 4 foot 36 watt tube off a 5 foot 58 watt ballast I got about 3 months on the tube, it was a lot hotter then one off the right ballast and not really that much brighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 I wouldn't overdrive them. Sell it and get a 3 foot one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richms Posted July 22, 2008 Report Share Posted July 22, 2008 Oh, I was using a seperate ballast with caps, I didn't go cutting down a light. The hours that would take to do and finish nicely would easily pay for a 3 foot fitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 22, 2008 Report Share Posted July 22, 2008 You could probably use the existing ballast to drive two 3 ft and one 2 foot lights or two 3 ft and two 1ft lights depending on the ballast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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