# Dual T8 Lighting for 20 bucks



## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

Does anyone know how effective aluminum flashing is as a reflector??


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Aluminum is inherently a very good reflector, and the better it is polished the better it reflects, but even the dull side of aluminum foil reflects very well. I made a reflector for a couple of screw-in CFL bulbs out of thin aluminum, and didn't bother to polish it at all - it was already pretty shiny. It doubled the PAR from the bulbs.


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## trev (Mar 2, 2008)

Flat White paint is actually EXTREMELY reflective. 

around 90% reflective even with home depot brand paints (from what ive read)

Could be a possible cheap fix for those without the $$ to go buy the glo reflectors


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## Ben. (Mar 29, 2011)

The extra cord you had lying around was to just extend the length of the original cord right? 

I'm thinking about making one of these, seems solid and cheap.

Would I just need to get bulbs for this to work? The specs says batlast required, what one did you get and how do you wire it?

Thanks!


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

hey ben,

It doesn't come with a cord, it's just the fixture. But wiring it couldn't be easier. It comes with the wire nuts so you just need match wire colors and screw 2 wires (black with black, white with white) together. I then wrapped it with electrical tape for extra safety. Ya, it has a ballast with it, it's the same ballast that comes with larger 48" one so I believe you can put any 24' bulb you want in there. Mine just has 1 ge plant bulb and 1 ge daylight bulb.


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

On the 48" fixture there are 3 wires and no wire nuts. I'll have to go back tomorrow to get a grounded power cord.


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

sorry about that. Hope the dude abides my incompetence. Did you get the 2 light or 4 light one? I shouldn't have assumed the wiring would be exactly like mine.


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

BlueJack said:


> sorry about that. Hope the dude abides my incompetence. Did you get the 2 light or 4 light one? I shouldn't have assumed the wiring would be exactly like mine.


Lol! I got the 2 bulb 48" fixture. It was really just a fun extra thing to do to get some more light over my 75g until my 3*54w T5HO Catalina fixture arrives on Wed. I was going to use this with my existing 32w T8 fixture that came with the tank. Oh well. I'll get what I need tomorrow and play with it.


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

Good choice on the catalina!! Awesome fixture for the price. One day I'll own one of those


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

BlueJack said:


> Good choice on the catalina!! Awesome fixture for the price. One day I'll own one of those


I don't know man. I found a 3 prong cord and got out the sauder (sp?) and saudering iron and went to town. Then I wrapped each individual wire with electrical tape then everything leading to the entry to the fixture. It puts out alot of light when combined with my 8K T8 48" fixture. 96 watts of T8 right on top of the tank! I'm sure I'll switch out to the new light when it gets here since the wife wants everything to look totally Proffessional. If it weren't for that I'd return the Catalina. This is a great DIY and total was about $27 with bulbs!!


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

After reading some info about reflectors I decided to try my hand at making some. I didn't give much thought to reflectors when I was making this fixture. I realized that much of my light is bouncing back and forth inside the fixture like this 










My goal was to try and have more light going downwards, something like this










This is the old fixture. The faults with this was the siding is straight, and the length of the reflectors are too short. 










The new reflectors and fixture. I made the reflectors longer and widened the area.




























I Guess my plants will tell me if any of this helped


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## BlueJack (Apr 15, 2011)

Seem to be working alright


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