I've decided to keep my 29 gallon as my 'community tank' opposed to my 20 gallon long. That much more space. And I like the tank itself. I've always had good luck with it and it's been with me for a while.
I was curious about two things however.
First, I need to do a custom fit glass top. The measurements for where the glass would fit are a bit odd being ~29" long and 12" deep. What would be my best bet here? Where should I go for this? Can I do something more easily, myself out of acrylic? I am also looking to have it 'hinged' and not one solid piece so I can lift it up and feed my fish... Any suggestions on this are welcome...
I also want to do a custom lighting project on it. I was thinking about compact fluorescents but am not totally sure. I don't want it to be extremely bright light - but good. Is 55w the standard for a single bulb? I've seen tons of talk on here lately about lighting and honestly I'm a bit clueless about it all. I want medium light on the tank. So how much would I be looking to spend on this endeavour? Can you pick up the necessary lighting ballasts at places like Canadian Tire or Home Depot? And who has the best prices? The tank is only 30" long in total.
Thanks for any help/suggestions.
I have a new glass tank cover, still in the box, that may fit. I'll check the dimensions tonight and let you know.
The 55 is the most common compact fluorescent.
However, for your 30 inch tank there are other options.
There is a 36 Watt compact that is 17 inches long (including the socket).
A 55 watt over a 29 gallon tank isn't exceptionally bright. It would be a good "medium light" setup.
You can not buy the bulbs or ballasts at crappy tire or HD.
Buchannan or Marchand are your best bets for ballasts. Buchannan sells a 5,000K CF bulb that will give the tank a nice look. I use them on my 10 gallon and 75 gallon and like the look very much.
A ballast will run you about 50 bucks, the bulb 20 and the end cap 10. Compare against an All-Glass strip light fixture at $120 (mind you with the housing and reflector).
It's pretty straightforward to wire... but if you need a hand wiring it, I can help out.
Wow. That's a bit more $$$ than I was thinking. Maybe I'll just sell the tank after all and keep my 20 gallon long. :lol:
I just did a retrofit job on my 30gal, which might work for you.
Cheapest custom way possible would be to go with T8 fluorescents.
- Electronic Ballast: ~$25.00 at HD
- Endcaps: ~$3.50/pair at HD
- 24" T8 bulb: ~$4-5 at HD
I personally used some Quantum 7000k T6 bulbs (which are a little smaller than T8's but have the same pins and ballasts) from BigAls that were about $20 each, simply because I liked the colour better.
I also gutted an existing plastic fixture; if you don't have one you can use rain gutter / endcaps from HD to make a very good looking one.
I'm very happy with the results.
Yeah... I'm just going to sell the 29 gallon tank instead of keeping and updating it. I only want low light plants like anubias, java moss and such anyway...
I'll save my money for lighting on the new 90 gallon vivarium I'll be setting up for my turtle. Now that's going to take some planning!