Light Options for Fish Room

[umfalcon]

hey everyone,

 

I'm building a rack using Cory's system of cinder blocks and 10 foot long two x fours. I plan on having eight twenty-gallon tall aquariums on the rack. Does anybody have suggestions to cheaply light this rack and how to mount the lights on this rack system?

Thanks everyone!

[Cory]

Typically the best diy option I've found is using shop lights. However lighting is one of the spots I learned to not be cheap on as I want to actually see my fish, not only when they are looking great, but if they were to get sick. Be able to grow plants, not grow too much algae. I personally use and like stingray lights, 48 inch ones would run about $75 each and cover 4 tanks. Shop LED lights usually are $30 to $40 but will be really powerful on those 20s, and usually the wrong color temperature to look good. You can take some chances on amazon lights, they run the spectrum, some have too much blue, some are too bright, some too weak, some last forever, some burn out in 9 months etc. 

[Ken Dyer]

I have tried a ton of different things, and researched a few others that I was too lazy to follow through on 😉

The discontinued bin at Lowes/Home Desperate is not to be over looked. Several of my 20 longs have LED under cabinet lights on them that were only a few dollars each on clearance. Cheap 3-4' LED shop lights also work (but I find the color of the light to be to yellow). Chicken brooder lights at a farm supply store with "daylight" LED bulbs also work for spot lighting areas that you want more light.

Zip ties, screws, and ingenuity when it comes to mounting. Just take a look at what you have to work with and find what you like is my suggestion. Zip ties are easy to tighten or clip so you can move a light around, screws are a bit more secure but a tad harder to adjust 😉

 

[umfalcon]

Ken and Cory,

Thanks for the fantastic suggestions. I think both ideas are super helpful. I have a follow-up question related to the rack. I plan on building only this rack (as it is going into a spare bedroom). At first I thought about using a linear piston air pump and pvc to power my sponge filters, but the pump is pretty expensive for just eight tanks. Should I go ahead and buy a linear piston air pump or just use eight individual air pumps?

 

I apologize for what are probably beginner questions, but this is my first time expanding to this scale and I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I'd rather people who have done it before advise me. 

[Tom__in_Maryland]

The new Fluval lights are expensive but very cool how you can program from phone the android app works perfect you never have to touch the light control is wireless.  Spectrum is perfect for plants or mood lighting.  I bought mine from aq co op.  You will never regret these lights other lights you may just end up upgrading later so why not get the best first.  I remember the days of metal halide and sodium lighting and these lights have revolutionized aquarium plant lighting.