Canopy/retrofit help!

[dtaranath]

I recently purchased a retrofit from hellolights that looks like this:

I have a couple of quick questions that hopefully someone could help me out with as I build my canopy:

1. Should I attach the reflector directly to the top wood, or should I add a 3/4" spacer between the reflector and top?

2. What are the best placements for the ballasts? On the back, top, or inside the canopy?

3. When I add the fans (two 4.5" fans), should I have one blowing in and one blowing out, or both blowing in?

4. The metal halides will be about 8-9" off the water. Should I put an acrylic sheet between the lights and water, with the fans below the sheet?


That's about it. I'm anxiously ready to start building. Any help with this questions would be much appreciated.

 

[danferd2002]

1. i attached mine directly to the wood, maybe someone else can chime in on this as im not sure.

2. ballast should be located out of the canopy, away from moisture and heat. I have mine on a piece of wood next to the stand.

3. yes, one blowing in and one blowing out, or both blowing out the top, but that requires holes in the top of the canopy.

4.no you dont need that, it will only keep more heat in the canopy.

 

[AZDesertRat]

My canopy is tall enough I made standoff blocks out of small pieces of 2x4s. Then I used a hole saw and cut 4-4" holes directly over the reflector so heat escapes but light does not. That way my fans on each end blow in and the heat rises and is pushed out the top.
When you have one fan blowing in and one out you only have the CFM equivalent of one fan, thats a poor idea. When both blow in or out you have the full capacity of two fans. In is best as out picks up salt spray and requires more cleaning so the fans don't fail.

 

[supertech3]

1. I attached mine to the wooden canopy no spacer, gets a little warm nothing serious.
2. Ballasts mounted inside electrical box below tank

 

[dtaranath]

thanks for the advice.

What about keeping an open top canopy? How much light actually escapes? Does anyone have an open canopy currently?

 

[danferd2002]

with that type of fixture it would be hard to do, since you probably want to enclose it so it looks better.