# Using hanging shop light for aquarium



## Spicoli (Dec 11, 2012)

Anyone ever used one of these hung above their tank?

Seems like an economical way to go and if you run a timer, which i do, it should be a no brainer, or am i missing something?

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/2-lamp-hanging-fluorescent-white-shoplight/818455


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## spanosilvio (Jan 4, 2008)

I still have a canopy that i make with them, in my 125 gallon tank, i grow anything with them, best results for the $. 

Sent from my A501 using Tapatalk 2


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## tf_fish (Aug 5, 2008)

spanosilvio any pics of your DY canopy


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

They work well but the reflector is minimal and a lot of light escapes out the side. Still, they are inexpensive and tubes are available in 5000K and 6500K that are inexpensive. They will also fit inside a section of eaves trough.


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## Ischemia (Dec 19, 2012)

I use this one anf rest it right on too of the tank. http://m.homedepot.ca/Product/productdetails.aspx?ProductId=972629&lang=EN works great for my planted tank and has a good reflector built in


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Shop lights can work very well. But as mentioned already, because the cheapest ones tend to have minimal to no reflectors, a lot of light is wasted. You can improve their performance quite a bit by adding something to serve as a reflector.

Be aware, aluminum foil does not make a very effective reflector.. it scatters more light than it reflects downward, which is where you want it to go. Mylar makes a good reflector, polished sheet aluminum would work too.

The unit Ischemia mentions, which I have looked at, is a nice one, and if you are not into DIY for a reflector, and you're ok with the price, it should serve very well.

You can get 65 or 6700K tubes at Home Depot too. Last time I looked, you had a choice of 40W tubes or 'power saving' reduced wattage tubes, I think they're 32 W, but I'm not sure exactly. For what I think is really only a small difference in power consumption, I believe the full 40W tubes are better for plants.

A note. T8 tubes, which are smaller in diameter, will fit fixtures that were made to take T12s. T12s are the standard diameter tubes most commonly seen in shop lights. 

Both T12 and T8 tubes have the same size fitting on the bulb end that goes into the fixture, so any fixture designed for T12s should be able to use T8s also. There will simply be a bit more space between the tubes if you use the smaller T8.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

T8s may or may not light properly in a T12 fixture. Most of the newer fixtures use electronic ballasts and can do both. T12s have been discontinued in terms of the manufacture of the fixtures. Tubes are still widely available. T8s grow many plants quite nicely.


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## snaggle (Feb 19, 2010)

The Watts of the tube is not there true power draw, a T8 tube will still be powered to 40W in a T12 light fixture. Also T12 can break if you try and stick them in to a T8 fixture.

I find the only problem with shop lights is they are made not to have a nice finished look, so they are only good for fishrooms or where you can mount them in a canopy.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I am using one of those lights and for the price its great. I find it provides about medium light for my 75 gal. I am picking up another to light a new tank I have.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I should have made that clearer, thanks for pointing it out, BillD. 

T8s should fit 'most' fixtures that were made to take T12s. Because the T12 fixtures are no longer being made, T8s have become the replacement for the T12. There are so many hundreds of thousands of T12 fixtures still in service, I think they pretty much had to make the T8 bulb so it would still work, at least in most of the older T12 fixtures. 

I have at least two T12 shoplights that are more than 20 years old and they will fit T8 bulbs just fine, though they look a bit odd to my eye, because of the extra space between them. But they work just as well. The fixtures are in a light garden I built, and I've noticed no difference between plants under a T8 and those under T12 bulbs of the same wattage, which is what I would expect. I'd have been surprised if there had been a noticeable difference.

Note that I did not say you can substitute a T12 for a T8.. It only works the other way around. Because of the size difference, a T12 would indeed break if you tried to force it into a fixture made to take T8s.

Snaggle, you have a point, that shop fixtures are not as nice looking, though that diamond plate one from Home Depot is actually quite neat looking. Bit shinier than I like personally, but it's a nice piece, for what it is, and it's nearly twice the price of the least expensive fixture HD carries. If you paint them, it can make quite a difference to their appearance. Since they're nearly al white, simply painting them black makes them look quite a bit nicer and they don't 'stick out' nearly so much as the white finish does. There are some very cool textured paints you can get that will hide minor imperfections in the housing so well you'd never see them unless you were really trying to find them. I like the 'Hammered' look you can get from Tremclad or Rustoleum.


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