canopy height questions....

[james3370]

about to start on the oceanic50 tank build & internally it is 29.5"wide x 17.5"deep x 19'tall so ~42gallons

so i'm planning on doing (3) of the icecap 2-bulb t5 retrofit kits in the canopy & was wondering how far off the water surface i should mont the lights???

still undecided if i'm gonna use the glass top that came w/ the tank or if i wanna leave it open & do eggcrate around the top edge to keep any jumper from going to the floor

also considering building a tank that would be 36w x 24d x 24h for ~90 gallons.......what height would you mount those lights from the water to account for the added depth????

 

[fallinapart]

well I have a 6 bulb t-5 unit on my frag tank 29gal, and it is 12" above the water and is growing things just fine

 

[james3370]

sweet....i had originally drew it up at 8" but a friend gave me (2) 250mm pc fans that are dead quiet that i thought about mounting in the ends...but that will require about 10" so i was thinking about going 11" tall & using them

 

[fallinapart]

I don't see why that would not work as your only 17" deep

 

[james3370]

what about if i build the 90 gallon tank that would be 24" deep??

bulbs will be geisemann (but 36" instead of 24"):

(2) actinic
(2) midday
(2) 10k

 

[james3370]

double post

 

[fallinapart]

Hmmm.... I suspect that if you use that same hood on a 90gal you may not have the bulbs close enough to the water, but I am guessing here and based on my own experience with my 90 gal, which has 8 bulb unit about 6' from the water, but then all of that depends on what corals you are looking to keep. Someone may pipe in here and give you some better advice.

Also if you are building it & cutting the glass you can always have a bigger foot print and shallower tank. Not sure I'm much help here.

 

[james3370]

if i were to do (8) 36" bulbs @ 11" off the water this way, do you thinki it would be enough for 24" of depth??? BTW....these would be icecap ballasts, so the bulbs would be overdriven

(1) actinic
(1) midday
(4) 10k
(1) midday
(1) actinic

 

[NeveSSL]

If I were you, I would get them as close to the water as I could. 11" is fairly high for a 24" tank IMO. At the same time, my lights sit about 1.5" to 2" off of the surface of the water on my tank, so maybe I'm biased.

Brandon

 

[fallinapart]

You should contact Wayne and go see his setup, he has retro t-5 and several inches off the service and has a real good set-up. It would help you get in your mind what you could and need to do for good light coverage.