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Fishboy93
12/13/2007, 03:09 PM
Has anyone tested these? Do they provide adequate light for growing coralline or shrooms. I'm setting up a mantis shrimp tank and need a cheap solution for lighting. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

Agu
12/13/2007, 04:42 PM
I've been using six 12" ccfl on a 5.5 shrimp/goby tank. 4 white and 2 blue , which seems to be a good ratio. LPS and softies do OK under that lighting but not great. The big plus is that they supposedly use very little energy and last a long time without a color shift.

For a mantis and softy tank they'd be fine ime.

If you decide to go that way get the lights online from a computer case mod site. As I recall they cost about $6/pair online and twice that for one bulb at radio shack.

Rosseau
12/13/2007, 05:23 PM
They are my moon lights :)

Fishboy93
12/13/2007, 06:07 PM
Thanks for the replies! Thats exactly what i was going to do 4 white 2 blue 12" and one white 4" as a fuge light. All powered off of an old 200 watt computer psu.

Agu
12/13/2007, 06:17 PM
Here's my 5.5 under that light,

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/2DSCN2840.jpg

Fishboy93
12/13/2007, 06:55 PM
very nice! I'm making a false wall to hide the circulation pump as well, but i'm making it on one end rather than on the back and deisplay the tank peninsula style, and with enough room to hide a mini fuge.

Agu
12/13/2007, 07:06 PM
That'll be about perfect for those bulbs.


FWIW I'm using a 1500 mA transformer per advice I got when setting up the lighting.

Agu
12/13/2007, 07:07 PM
Hey, noticed you're almost local. LMK if/when you're up this way.

Fishboy93
12/13/2007, 08:23 PM
ya i'll probly be building it and starting a thread on it after christmas. Are you part of SWFMAS.com? or is venice too far north?

Agu
12/13/2007, 08:29 PM
I'm in the Sarasota club.............

Fishboy93
12/13/2007, 08:38 PM
O gotcha well I think i'll post the actual build here in the NR section of RC and keep a journal on SWFMAS.com

Fishboy93
12/13/2007, 08:51 PM
here's the start of the false wall, I'm trying something different out and using gorilla glue instead of silicone or a gorilla glue/silicone combo because the gorilla glue sticks to glass and acrylic fairly well, silicone on acrylic has always peeled on me in the past. Its just a couple scrap pieces of acrylic, you can see I mocked up where the overflow and return are going to be. Also I'm going to paint it black to mask all the scratches and hide everything...i know it looks ghetto now but when I'm finished it will look slick. <br>
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/kdawg7990/PC140480.jpg
<br>
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/kdawg7990/PC140481.jpg

BlakDuc
12/13/2007, 10:47 PM
I would recommend against the Gorilla Glue. It is not water proof.

Agu
12/14/2007, 09:28 AM
What size tank are you modding ? I have some scrap black acrylic laying around. I can also show you how to caulk it with silicone so it stays in place.

Fishboy93
12/14/2007, 02:56 PM
Gorilla glue says its 100% waterproof on the bottle...Is this a lie?

I Understand how to sandwich the acrylic between the silicone beads so it stays in place, but I think I'm going to give the gorilla glue a try. It bonded really well to the acrylic and it says on the bottle it bonds to glass, I'm just trying it as a proof of concept because there arent many solutions to bonding acrylic and glass.

As for the acrylic I'm going to shoot it with some Krylon fusion when I'm done so its not really a big deal, but i might take you up on that. Thank you very much for your help. I'll probably have more questions when I finish building it.

Lol I know the false wall looks ghetto now, but in the end it will look better i swear.

BlakDuc
12/14/2007, 03:21 PM
From a couple of thread I have read on here, the Gorilla glue will eventually break down in the water. I would use some sort of marine epoxy after roughing it up sith a little bit of sandpaper.

Fishboy93
12/14/2007, 03:56 PM
hmmm I've used it on a couple projects so far and its still holding up, I'll consider that