DIY vho lighting for an aquarium
Hello, my name is Adrian, and I have been involved with aquariums for as long as I can remember. I always thought they were cool, and very relaxing to watch, receiving many satisfied years in the hobby. I have always had artificial plants in my tanks, and just recently, I decided to try my hand at live plants. Oh what a daunting task. Lighting, co2, fertalizers, specific plants requiring different things... I got overwhelmed. I started slowly, by first getting the substate of my 37 gallon tank. I used eco-complete. I picked some hearty plants, java fern, jungle vals, and another type of java fern. I got a DIY CO2 injection system using a 2 liter bottle, yeast, sugar, and a glass diffuser. Now, lighting. I have very little money to afford a PC (power compact) or any of the other way expensive light set ups. I have a standard (NO) fluorescent light, 20 watt, that is suppose to help with plant photosynthesis, but everything I have read says, more is better. So, I looked into (HO) and (VHO) and found these are really expensive as well. Wondering what the difference was, I found that it was mostly the ballast. How do I build a (VHO)set up, using the same fixture, just replacing the ballast and caps... if needed? I tried finding ballasts on the net, and found that most want you to buy an icecap ballast that run in the hundreds of dollars. I know there has to be an easier way. All I want is something that can handle a 75w VHO single bulb. Any suggestions?
