Canopy

[lost1]

:roflmao: :fish: Hello, just a quick question, I am about to start construction of my hood on a 60" 120 gal tank, fowlr, i am going to go with flouresent tubes at the moment, but if i wish to upgrade in the future how much clearence should i have from the top to the tank to the top of the canopy? thanks David

[Michael_Lambert]

Really depends on what you are looking to upgrade to..

If you are going to VHO, then you can have them right ontop of the water... i have seen them as close as 1 inch to the water.

If you are going to Metal Halides.. If they are in cases with lenses then they can be asclose as 3-4 inches if they are going to be just the socket with bulbs with no lenses then you want to go 10-12 inches depending on the suface of your water.. if its splashing around keep them hight 10-12 inches calmer waters you can do 8.. i would not go lower than 6 remember Metal Halides get hot.. real hot.. i had a 175 watt bulb 4 inches off and my tang splashed and the bulb got hit and Exploded.. i could have sware a gun went off.. then i had to strip my tank and clean it..

[IJO]

TooLoud

I will have my VHO system 3 inches from the water and am worried that this is to close. Do you think I should get a glass top or am I just over reacting? Thanks in advanced.

IJO

[Michael_Lambert]

Your VHO's are fine 3 inches from the water.. They do not get hot.. I can have the VHO's running all day.. and still touch them with my Bare hands.. I mean they run cooler than normal florecents. Just install a cooling fan in your hood to pull the hot air out..

As for the Glass top.. No i really would not suggest this to anyone, Go grab some Eggcrate from Home deopt and cut it to size and use it as a top.. its a Light Diffuser basiclly a ton of little squares this way the Light gets in , the Moisture and heat gets out of the tank and you keep your fish in.

If you run a glass top, you are going to need to clean it every day meaning taking your canopy off and then cleaning the glass becouse of the salt build up, Not to mention the the fact that you are going to have massive Heat build ups with in the tank as well some have had issues with Nitrate Gas building up.. Witch is really bad to a reef tank..

So in conclusion.. Run nothing on top of the tank execpt Eggcrate, 2 inches and up would be fine for VHO, just run a cooling fan in the hood mainly to get out the gases and heat.

And good luck!

[Dman]

I ran my 250W Iwasaki about 4 inches from the surface and my fluorescents just above the surface, if there had a been a way to actually put them in the water I'da done it.
Dman
:spin:

[Michael_Lambert]

Oh yea.. i have seen some MH's skimming the surface.. but they where very Calm tanks.. me i like the rippling affect.. so my power heads are blowing right across the top of the water.. i get alot of Splashing.. as well as a lot of evap.. i have my Halides 10 inchs off.. After the one blowing up.. i dont need to risk it agian.

[lost1]

Thanks alot, I have 2 puffers that when i get home like to great me by spraying water over the tank at me (food fed me i think) lol so i guess i will try for 12 inches, and when and if i go to halides I will ensure that they have a lense, thanks again for all your input for things i would have discovered the hard way.:thumbsup:

[IJO]

Thanks for the input tooloud, DMan... I guess I'll try it without the glass shield and let you know how everything goes. :)

IJO