Self-built hood and lights

[sammydee]

Just got my marine lighting finished. My mum seemed to think that for some strange reason I-shouldn't-be-doing-soldering-in-my-room-and-why-wasn't-I-doing-my-homework-anyway? Luckily I had just finished, so here are the pics...

I soldered it for two reasons:

1) I am too poor to afford Endcaps.
2) After hearing horror stories of fires caused by overdriven bulbs, I was a bit worried about using endcaps.

I got the ballast off ebay for a fiver, and the bulbs were £7 each. That's 72 watts of lighting for £19! Not bad, huh? I am going to add two more bulbs eventually to give me a total of 144 watts for £38.

General installation:

Close up of my shoddy bodged up wiring : I know it's extremely dangerous - would anyone reccomend electricians tape or silicone or something to cover those exposed ends (also that would stop the lead getting into the tank )? My dad said not to use silicone, but didn't mention why..

I would highly reccomend this as a cheap, easy way to get a reasonable amount of light. If you're short of money this is the route I would go.

So, how bright is THAT:

It is blinding. I was surprised that it worked first time, but it did, and that's the result. I'm so pleased it worked!

At least it took my mind off my horrific disaster which happened in my other tank

So, any ideas on how to cover up those exposed wires?

 

[newland]

Like the lights.

I think you can't use silicone because its a semiconductor? Correct me if i'm wrong.
So its would not electrically seal the connection.

Did you not require a starter?

 

[sammydee]

Silicon is a semi conductor - that's the stuff they make computers out of. SiliconE is a platic used to seal up tanks.

Didn't need a starter because I have an electronic ballast.