could i mod a current orbit light?

[rhino509]

i have current outer orbit light setup on my tank,2x150 mh and 2x130 acnic pc,does the glass and plastic covers have to be over the lights? if i take them off,would that be a disaster? im thinking i wanna make some mods to the light,such as taking out the middle black panels,and the area between the halides and the power compacts(you can kinda tell where theres more blue in front and back because theres not enough room for the light to spread,so i figured if i removed the section in between,it would have more room.
also,i dont like the reflectors that are in it,they are like(how do i explain it) ........they arent smooth,hmmm porous (i think is the word),im just trying to get every bit of light i can from this thing and i dont think the reflectors are doing it.
any advice/ideas would be great,thx

 

[magdelan]

If you take the "UV protective" pannel off of your lights, you WILL fry your corals!!! The glass cover is like sunscreen and without it, your corals will burn.. HTH

 

[rhino509]

now why is this? is it the double ended bulb that causes the need for the glass?
thx

 

[shouldabenacowboy]

double ended bulbs need UV flitering

SBC

 

[bertoni]

Yes, most 150 W bulbs emit a lot of UV. The single-ended bulbs have a second glass layer to remove a lot of the UV. Never trust a DE fixture without a glass UV shield. Only a very few DE bulbs have a UV shield built in.

In general, I wouldn't tinker much with lighting setups. I think it's safer, albeit expensive, to replace them.