Are my lights hung too high?

[JPReef]

I think thier about 12-14 inches off the surface of the water. I have yet to measure exactly yet.

 

[james3370]

depends on the wattage....looked thru the build thread & didn't see any mention of what they are

150's.....probably too far
250's.....50/50 on being too far
400's.....probably about right

 

[nikon187]

If anything other than 400w i would move them closer

 

[james3370]

& doing that would give you a storage shelf for odds & ends over the lights in the top of the canopy

 

[JPReef]

thier 2 250watt hamiltons powered by 2 brand new ice cap ballasts.

oh and the top of the canopy is open so no possibility of storage.

 

[james3370]

yeah, i'd lower them to about 7-8". doing it w/ a "shelf" board to mount them to & then you can put stuff on top of the shelf

win/win

it would be easy to do.....for the shelf in my stand, i just cut (4) short pieces off a 2x4 & screwed them to the sides of the stand. then the shelf just sits on top of them. you could do the same & then still cut holes in the shelf for hot air to escape out the top. also makes it fairly easy to change the height of the lights.....just move the 4 shelf supports

here's a few pics (clickable thumbs) that you can see the lil supports:

 

[JPReef]

I'll give it a try. Im trying to think of a way i can do it without taking the whole thing back off my tank. was kind of a pita to get on in the first place so ill experiment with it.

Thanks for the info though.