lighting question

[Dennis1438]

I am going to buy a 24" Aqualight Pro 2x65, 1x150 for my tank. This light comes complete vers retrofit. With either light I will need to build a canopy for the top of my hexagon tank. Is it better to go with the retrofit, and just secure the light to the hood of the canopy.
Does anyone know if this light will produce lots heat and I should keep the top open for the heat to escape.
If the light produces heat shoud I just get the complete light and try to use the leg mounts inside the open canopy.
The price is not really much of a difference between the two lights.
Anyone have any suggestions. Thanks

 

[mcox33]

go retro, build your own hood and mount fans in each end. Works great and looks better than open canopy or a light with legs. Also more light ends up in the tank instead of the room.

 

[aquawolf]

Or, if the price is the same and you want an all-in-one fixture, you could do this. Cut off the little 90 degree pieces of the legs that keep the light from falling in the water when using open tops and install them in the canopy from the bottom up.

When you are done it will look like this:

That is my 48" Dual 150 MH in a stock canopy sitting over my 75 gallon reef. Heat is not a factor as the Aqualight Pro units have fans on top and cooling vents on the side that can still pull in air.

I hope this at least gives you an option.

(edited to add: Note that in case it isn't obvious, only the actinics are on in the posted photos.)

 

[bertoni]

I would go with a retrofit or a different pendant, since I'm very skeptical about the effectiveness of the reflectors in that sort of unit. I went with a ReefOptix pendant (175 W) and an Iwasaki 15,0000 K bulb. You could use VHO actinics, if you want more blue. I like the looks of them better than PC or T5 actinics.