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I finally pulled the trigger and bought a pair of 11W (6400k) T2VHO fixtures from American Aquarium Products:
They arrived quickly and I had good support from the owner, Carl. I swapped them into the hood of a Marineland Eclipse 12 aquarium and it was pretty easy. The old CFL fixture removes wth three screws. I didnt try to reuse the switch since that would mean cutting wires, I wanted to have it on a timer anyway so it was no issue and now I have a feeding port where the switch was. The fixtures come with both right angle and flat end brackets so I decided to use the right angle for a more low profile look. They also feature a power and power link cable with each so that you can link the units together. Another neat feature is that the reflector will rotate a full 360 degrees around the tube. The fixtures were able to fit in there well with about 1/2" to spare between them and the stock biowheel filter tray. Using the end brackets you could possibly fit up to four fixtures but they only recommend three to be used if you are linking the fixtures. There is a plastic post in the eclipse hood that is used for the old fixture and since I didnt want to cut it out, I butted the first fixture up to it and marked a bracket hole. I then drilled that hole out with a 3/16" drill since that was the size needed for the screws that came with them. With one hole through, I laid out the remaining three holes by spacing them 16" apart and spacing the fixtures 1.875" center to center. I then installed them and lit them up, the pics are with an iphone 3GS and dont do justice to how much better the aquarium looks! Please excuse the scape since I havent done much with this aquarium other than use it to hold plants and one betta...at least until I find the driftwood that I want for it. We will see if the PUR off of these things is as good as Carl says it is on his site, but I am happy in any case and the naja grass was pearling on the first day! I will go back and add a stiffener bar to the hood next weekend since it sags a bit now when hot. I will also use silicon sealant around the plugs and the integral on/off switch in each fixture to prevent condensation from getting in there. Of course, I will replace the wood screws that are jutting up through the top of the hood with through-bolts. For a 70$ total, I think it is a great investment!
They arrived quickly and I had good support from the owner, Carl. I swapped them into the hood of a Marineland Eclipse 12 aquarium and it was pretty easy. The old CFL fixture removes wth three screws. I didnt try to reuse the switch since that would mean cutting wires, I wanted to have it on a timer anyway so it was no issue and now I have a feeding port where the switch was. The fixtures come with both right angle and flat end brackets so I decided to use the right angle for a more low profile look. They also feature a power and power link cable with each so that you can link the units together. Another neat feature is that the reflector will rotate a full 360 degrees around the tube. The fixtures were able to fit in there well with about 1/2" to spare between them and the stock biowheel filter tray. Using the end brackets you could possibly fit up to four fixtures but they only recommend three to be used if you are linking the fixtures. There is a plastic post in the eclipse hood that is used for the old fixture and since I didnt want to cut it out, I butted the first fixture up to it and marked a bracket hole. I then drilled that hole out with a 3/16" drill since that was the size needed for the screws that came with them. With one hole through, I laid out the remaining three holes by spacing them 16" apart and spacing the fixtures 1.875" center to center. I then installed them and lit them up, the pics are with an iphone 3GS and dont do justice to how much better the aquarium looks! Please excuse the scape since I havent done much with this aquarium other than use it to hold plants and one betta...at least until I find the driftwood that I want for it. We will see if the PUR off of these things is as good as Carl says it is on his site, but I am happy in any case and the naja grass was pearling on the first day! I will go back and add a stiffener bar to the hood next weekend since it sags a bit now when hot. I will also use silicon sealant around the plugs and the integral on/off switch in each fixture to prevent condensation from getting in there. Of course, I will replace the wood screws that are jutting up through the top of the hood with through-bolts. For a 70$ total, I think it is a great investment!
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