MH light Height

[Neoz]

Ok so I'm tiding up the canopy and making the wiring harness look all nice and tidy. And I thought to myself of all the local tanks I have seen here most had tall hoods.

Mine is not so tall. Which leads me to another question. What should be a "good" height between the MH lights and the water surface? I have 175Watt 20K MH lights. I really don't think mine are high enough. At best they are maybe 5 1/2" to 6" once water is added.

My canopy has 6 fans on it. The back is open and the top of the canopy has some openings in it. I will post a picture shortly.

Feel free to ring in on your thoughts. Will I need a chiller? Will I cook the water? Should I redesign the canopy? Thanks...

 

[pimpinitup6969]

My step dad has 3 175 watt halides in his canopy about 6 inches off of the water surface..... is the room that the tank is in air conditioned? is the sump in the stand or basement? My halides are about 10 inches off the water and i have no heat issues if i keep a fan over my sump on the hot days. If you make it to Elmira at all let me know i have really nice screw on clips for wires that i get from work. They work really well for cleaning up the wiring in a canopy

 

[Neoz]

The sump will be in the stand. The room will be air conditioned. So I should be ok? One side note, running those 6 fans is a little too noisey for my taste.

 

[pimpinitup6969]

are you going to run a controller? if so you could run 3 of the fans the whole time that the lights were on and have the rest come on when the tank starts to heat up... but yeah you should be able to keep it cool if the room has a/c and you keep some of the fans going!

 

[reefscape15]

+1. I have a 250watt 20k over my 54gal and it's only about 4" off the surface. I do have temp swings throughout the day, but it's only from about 76-79degrees. I haven't had any problems with too high of temp, but we are just getting into summer, so I may be adding fans soon. As of now I have nothing but evap. to cool the tank, and it's working fine so far

 

[nwrogers]

My bulb is 8.5in. off the water and the canopy is 12in high. How tall is the canopy? You should consider having a fan directly behind the bulb blowing across it lengthwise. That will help with heat. The only other problem will be salt creep. If you don't mind cleaning the bulb regularly or having a bigger fan you should be fine. The other thing to consider is coverage. If the bulb is a little higher you will get better coverage of light over the tank. I would say if it is a royal pain to change it than just try it out as it is. It probably won't be to bad but if it is easy to change than I would make it taller.

 

[Neoz]

The canopy is 9" tall. There are fans over the MH bulbs as you can see in the pic. There are 4 bulbs and 4 fans. There isn't anyway to make it taller without redegining the whole canopy. So I believe I'll run it as it is and go from there.... Time will tell...

 

[pimpinitup6969]

the canopy looks pretty sharp when its up and running let me know and ill make a trip out there and bring you some frags!

 

[Piazzon12]

no reflectors? or are the fans not directly over the bulbs?

 

[Neoz]

Kind of offset. And the reflectors are just little pieces of tin. Thats why I'm going to change them out. The fans are on the hood that lifts up. The MH bulbs are back a little. Almost were the hinges are.

Once the tank is up and together I'll post some nice pictures of the complete unit. Oh and frags? Did someone say frags I'll take some for sure. 180gallons is going to look bare for awhile.. Thanks for the offer bud...

Here is a picture from the previous owner. A little blurry but you get the idea. The stand on the side came with it and matches the stand. It houses all the Ballast for the lights.

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[Piazzon12]

Perfect place for a frag tank

 

[pimpinitup6969]

+1 for that being perfect for a frag tank