To Build or not to build?

[ps90000]

I got a 29g aquarium from the $1/1g deal at Petco last week. I was thinkign of putting a piranha in it, but they need a bigger tank. I have a few plants in my FW 55g, but they're not really "flourishing" as much as I would like them to. I would like to put the plants and whatnot in the 29g. I don't have a hood or lights for the 29g, but I thought it would be kind of cool to build one. I went to Home Depot and was looking at some flourescent fixtures, but they didn't have what I was looking for. I was thinking that I could get some of those fixtures (I was looking at the 24" fixtures). They have a T8 ballast, and 2 "slots". I was thinking of ripping the ballast and everything else, and then buying another one so I could have 4 lights. Do you think 2 lights would do for my 29g, or would 4 be that much better? I was thinking I could make my hood out of wood from my neighbor's woodshop, put some holes in it and hook a fan up. I thought that the fixtures could not withstand the humidity from the tank, think that would be true?

Okay just had a revelation. I have a 55g with a bunch of fish, some ghost shrimp, a turtle. I bought a 29g, and a 20g long tank from Petco. Thinking about it, I could put the turtle in the 20L, put the plants in the 55g (it has a 2 light hood already), and then put my jack dempsey in the 29g, and maybe some other semi aggressive fish. What do you think?

So if you don't want to read, would it be easier to build a hood and use it for my planted 29, or should I buy one? Should the Turtle be put solo in a 20g L tank, and the Jack Dempsey be put in the 29g, and then plant my 55g tank?

Ahhh I'm bad at this forum, always put stuff in the wrong place. I think this should be in The Think Tank.

[motorslave]

Actually this would get the best responses in the freshwater forum so well move it there! I am blind when it comes to fresh!

Robert

[Wiskey]

I would leave the 55G as the planted tank because it is much easer to come by 4 foot bulbs/fixtures.

For my 50 (same footprint 2 inches shorter) I used 2, 2*40W Shoplight fixtures, I used 1, 5,500K bulb, one Growlux, one soft white, and one 6,700K, all of these came from HD the fixtures cost about $12 each, and the bulbs ran about $4 each.

This was tons of light, and the plants grew like mad, especially with my DIY yeast CO2 and ferts I started dosing.

I don't know anything about turtles though,
Whiskey

[ps90000]

I wouldn't really call the 55 "planted", it has a sword and some ancharis in there, but they're not doing well. The substrate is just aquarium sand or gravel, and the plants continually get uprooted from the turtle (or maybe the fish).

Alright another thought, so my aquarium list is a 55g, a 20g L, a 29g. The 20 and 29 are 30" long. I could hang a light with a set of 4' flourescents in it (shop light). I could center it over the 29, the turtle doesn't need a ton of light anyway. How close would a set of 4 4' flourescents need to be to provide the proper lighting (assuming no canopy).

[Wiskey]

I had mine about 3 inches off the water, this is measured from the bottom of the T12 bulb to the tank top.

Whiskey

[J_Chicago]

With the planted and turtle the larger foot prints are a good thing. So I would put Jack in the 29g (he might be the one up-rooting the plants, to remove cover for preditors of fry). So the 20L would be good for the turtle and you could build a nice little vivarium for him. And if you like "el natural" planted tanks the 55 would give more hieght for the plants to grow. And as whiskey said, 4ft lights are readily available.
So do it the way you said....and lets see some pics