Light Setup?

[K.Bodno]

I just got my order today, and may I say I am very pleased. The shipping was fast as ever, and Im definately very happy with what I ordered with the space I am working with under my current hood. I was just wondering about ym setup Im gonna do, and will this work?

I was gonna put one (i got a retrofit kit) of the reflectors, or bulbs, at an angle, while the other, faces the opposite direction, with a space inbetween for some LED's. Like this:

/ - \

So basically what Im saying is they are not parrallel to the water like the normal ( ---- -- ---- ), they are somewhat angled towards the rear and front of the tank

-> where the left one, will be the daylight 10,000k light, facing the back of the tank, and the right will be the actinic facing the front. The LED is a powerbrite strip of 50/50 daylight actinic. Is there say, a max angle I can put it at, because i do not have much room, and I may have to put the at a relatively high angle, but i can do other things if it wont work. Any suggestions?

 

[Jeremy B.]

Thanks for the order, we greatly appreciate it.

I understand what you're trying to do. Keep in mind that the higher the angle, the less light you're going to get down into the system. I think ultimately it's just going to be dependent upon what you're keeping in the tank, and some trial and error on how those particular animals react to the angle you're using.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[K.Bodno]

Yea thats true. I think Im going to have to do some cutting. Since the lights arent going to be covered, do I need something cover them?

 

[Jeremy B.]

No, you will not need to cover them. The downside is you will need to keep them wiped down, but it's not too bad.

 

[K.Bodno]

I dont need to cover them, even though they will be about an inch from the water? Because my hood is built in I think I was gonna get a big piece of plexiglass or acrylic and place it under the hood and make apropriate cutouts, then just place the lights on the plexiglass

 

[Jeremy B.]

That would be just fine to do. Figure the acrylic sheet will cut away about 10% - 15% total light output, so it's not going to make a huge difference for you. If it's that close it will indeed help with salt spray.

 

[K.Bodno]

What do you mean by salt spray?

 

[Jeremy B.]

Without the shield you will get a lot of salt spray buildup on your lamps and reflectors. With the shield that will not be an issue.

 

[K.Bodno]

Oh yea, I thought you meant spray something to prevent salt buildup haha