/diy/ - Do It Yourself

SOOOOO inside the black housing there are basically 4 mounting points where you can screw into. (they are molded plastic standoffs) I realize you could screw into any point on the housing but I don't want visible screws on the outside, I want the lights to look unmodified and clean.

So, I made two smalls mounting holes on the back of the housing where you can't see and used them to mount the ballast to the inside of the housing.

Basically, i needed 2 things: 1) a way to hold the bulb in place and 2) a reflector.

#2 is easy. fuck plastic reflectors, I'm just going to cut up a large aluminum disposable baking tray and fold it into a long reflector the shape and size of the inside of the housing.

#1 is harder. the t8 sockets dont go at each end of the housing (the bulb is shorter) and don't screw into it. I could glue them to the housing, but then there's no standoff and little room for the reflector. and i'm concerned about heat. Then i realized that while 99% of CFL bulbs snap into the mounted sockets, there is no reason not to just mount the bulb and just clip the sockets on the end. behold, the almighty TERRY CLIP. I ordered 10 from the UK (since apparently america hates them and no hardware store in the tri county area has them, even mom and pop shops) and they will use the existing screw mounts/standoffs from the old reflector. I figure ill make two holes in the reflector, and mount both the reflector and the terry clips with one screw on each clip.

from there, i pop the bulb in, clip on the sockets, and i'll have an aquarium light with a better reflector that will last longer than the originals.

I got the 10 terry clips for $3 on ebay, and i picked up 2 6500K t8 18" "daylight" bulbs on amazon for $10. The aluminum pans are $1 at the local dollar store, so I'm putting this project at a total of $35, which is $5 less than ONE new lid + light of the style I had previously. (and i needed two as I have a 55 gallon tank.)