26.5"x26" cheap lighting ideas?

As I said before I wouldnt do it with thin glass, like single or double strength (3/32 or 1/8"), but this is 1/4" plate. Glass is a bit like steel, thicker is actually more forgiving. Here is 2 videos of me drilling over an existing hole with a larger hole, I also had to drill another hole for the return line in the middle and had to do that at a VERY akward angle from the back, I didnt take a video because I had my hands full.

That makes 4 holes I have drilled in this tank so far without an issue. Its really not hard as long as you go slow, keep water flowing over the bit, dont push hard, and keep the drill square the the glass. I find it also helps to work the drill around in a circle a bit, that augers out the hole a little and there is less chance of binding, avoiding binding is also why I turn the clutch all the way down.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0903111332.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0903111343.jpg

Here is my finished plumbing and the first light, I am going to put his twin directly above him and work out something else for the wall side. Sorry if they are to big, usually they resize automatically, but not today it seems...

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0904112002.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0904111955.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...904111955a.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...904111955b.jpg

Turns out I can barely fit a walmart reflector back there if I heavily modify the base.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0924111700.jpg

That's not too bad. Reduce hours if you have to.

Here is a better shot with my digital camera instead of my phone, I also got the second 24" tube mounted back up. I had to repair it after it fell in the sump.... The 2 tubes are each 24 watt T5 HO and the spiral bulb is a 26 watt (the highest they sell at the local walmart) they are all set to 16 hours a day.

Oddly enough the screen has never grown any substantial algae, even when I had both tubes up for a couple weeks I barely grow more than slime. There is nothing currently in the tank, and I havent fed it anythign since I added all the dead starter stuff a few months back that caused my algae plague (I hadnt realized the starter bacteria, copepods, live sand and live rock had all died in shipping, I blame Texas summer). I have been hoping that the screens will out compete the algae slime in the tank but to no avail, we will see what happens with these new lights.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0001Medium.jpg

These 2 shots are of the display tank, the algae has gone down somewhat since the original plague but its still a huge mess.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0004Medium.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...0005Medium.jpg

The new light will do it. The old lights won't do anything.

Ok last lighting question I swear..... I went to walmart to get another 8.5" reflector and found some 2700k 55 watt spiral compact light bulbs on clearence. I set them up like the pictures below and removed the tube lights, the 24" tubes are just way to sensitive to salt overspray and are now doing a great job lighting my 30 gallon freshwater tank.

Do you think I am better off with the 2 55 watt lights at an angle like this? Or the 2 26 watt bulbs straight on like in the previous pictures? The back of the tank is WAYYYYY brighter than it looks in that picture, but you can see the setup and light consistantly here, I also get more light on the other side of the screens with this.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...929aMedium.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...1841Medium.jpg

Straight-on is better. The larger bulbs are loosing all their light to the sides.

Cut part of the reflector and insert it to the front of the screen. It appears if you just trimmed off a bit of the cone shape on the screen side you could slide it in further so it would be in front of the screen.

I found some cheap Brackenheath 36w portable floodlights on eBay, £9.95 each Plus a single postage charge of £4.95 so less than £25 for 72W
I ended using some Arcadia Arc-Pods with cheap 2700k G23's because I wanted my AS to be a feature and they do look nice :) :roll: :)

Here are my Brackenheaths (I just removed the worklight framing and modified a little and made a glass mounting rail and bolted them to it, a waste of time I know, but they will get used for something one day :) ) :

http://www.nwaf.eu/images/Brackenheath-36W.JPG

HTH

Mark