Werefox Posted August 6, 2004 Report Share Posted August 6, 2004 Hi, I've been looking around at some of the DIY hood light plans, and was wondering if anyone has made one for their tanks. If so, is it cost effective, and very difficult to do? (I'm alittle worried about the wiring up of the lights as I'm not an electrition, and am a little hesitant with playing with mains power.) Cheers, Gavin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnstack Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 Hi Werefox. Making your own hood is not very complicated. If you are using strip lighting you can pick up the light fittings up at 2nd hand places for a few dollars The wiring is quite simple and colour coded for + - and earth in the unit and all you need to do is wire the plug accordingly. Making a hood is fairly easy also- if you have the time and patience and it doesn't have to be insulated from water unless you suspend it over a tank without covers- in which case you will have a problem. I made mine from thin stainless though you can use thin galv and paint it white on the inside -just make sure that whatever you use is light-and fireproof. I have found that sitting the hood directly on the glass top is not a good idea-light too intense. My tank is "sort of" custom built with a steel frame with C/W surround screwed on and spray painted to suit the decor. If you have a steel frame it's a simple job of screwing a couple of L ( imagine that the other way up!!) with the long end of the L extending over the tank-you may need to talk nicely to someone who can weld. If you make the "L" high enough you can suspend the light at the desired level and adjust the height to suit aesthetics, plant growth etc. Hope this is of some help. By the way the worst you can do with wrong wiring is the light either doesn't light or you blow a fuse. Regards Gordon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werefox Posted August 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 Thanks for that. I was thinking of making a wooden one based around the one here - I guess thats probably a bad idea and would be better with a metal one? My tank does have glass coverings so water shouldn't be too much of a problem. Once again thanks, Gavin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 You could add metal reflectors behind the lights and still use a wooden hood. The reflectors shield the wood from too much heat and sends the light in the right direction (although you might get too much light). In terms of wiring, lights are almost the easiest thing around to wire up. Some tips though: if you are colour-blind get someone else to check the wiring. When you are finished get hold of a voltmeter, turn the lights on, and check the voltage of the exposed metal parts before you touch them with your bare hands. Never be tempted to leave any exposed live wiring or contacts thinking "I'll never touch that there", because one day you will find out otherwise. Wire the switch in on the phase (positive) side of the lights, this minimises the amount of live wiring when it is switched off. I will add that I haven't had much experience with wiring aquarium lights, although I've wired a lot of other things, so I'm not sure how to deal with moisture issues. Most aquariums I've seen seem to have just a single piece of glass or perspex between the water and the light, so it should be OK if you already have a glass top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interfecus Posted August 9, 2004 Report Share Posted August 9, 2004 I'm currently trying to build a light out of a couple of wooden wine bottle boxes, regular light fittings, and two 18W power-saver bulbs. So far it seems to work well except I just broke one of the 2 bulbs by mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandit Posted August 10, 2004 Report Share Posted August 10, 2004 to much light ive never heard of that problem before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malawi_man Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 niether Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 Wiring for single tube. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fins Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 I have a light that when I turn it on in a tank about 40cm high or less all the fish start acting all crazy and crash into everything. So I think that you can have too much light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 Too much light and the algae takes off too. You certainly can overdo it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 To over come the "light-fright". Turn on a pilot light, or the room light, or open the blinds. Just do something so that they don't get a huge flash. Not too hard to figure out. Do the reverse when turning off the lights too. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Fins said: I have a light that when I turn it on in a tank about 40cm high or less all the fish start acting all crazy and crash into everything. So I think that you can have too much light. Get the fitting checked out by a competent person... as you could have a leakage of power that is zapping the fish as you switch on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fins Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 I now use that light on a bigger tank with a dense covering of floating plants and there is no problem now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativelover Posted December 13, 2011 Report Share Posted December 13, 2011 :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted December 14, 2011 Report Share Posted December 14, 2011 you went into the dark depths of the forum to find this thread :sage: check this out before doing wiring yourself http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=43808 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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