Please help with my canopy. I'm stuck.
- Thread starter Stephany
- Start date
Stephany
New member
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=6952542#post6952542
Look! I posted pictures!
Look! I posted pictures!
i think if you bought a pendant and cut out a hole in the top of canopy that would be easiest, this way the bulb is covered with uv resistant glass and you wont have to worry about thermal explosion of the bulb if it gets wet, im sure you can get one cheap on here used from someone....are you still gonna keep the vho's also, i would for actinics...?
yes it does, but when you have actinics, your not really using them for nothing more than just color so the effeciency of them would be obselete anyhows, to a certain extent that is....ill post my pics, i have mine almost completely to the sides of tank and they work just fine...ya know you should get a 250 pendant if you can find a used one, this way if your worried abouot losing lighting from the vho's then the 250 would be that much more wattage to help manage the amount of photons being produced
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You should be able to raise the hood a little and I don't mind doing it for you and wire the stuff in there too but we have to wait at least a month when is nice out to do that. You can make a small box, put both your MH and VHO in there and hang if if is possible. How about FRD showing us his setup as is almost the same. I will see what I cand find for you later on. Having VHO and MH in the tank will cause too much heat and on top of that if you are putting one light then you should consider the center brace.
fishesRdelicious
New member
with 5'' of clearence the mh will cook the tank. i would just get two more vhos with a total of 4 vho, 2 actinic and 2 daylight bulbs. you can have clams under vhos
another option would be to raise the lights with a new hood or hang them from the ceiling like this:
my lights changed from this picture but i put in 2 actinic vhos to supplement my 2 175 mh
on my sisters 40 breeder hood, i wanted to put 4 36'' lights in the hood so i had to do some space management in the hood because with endcaps the lights are 36 6/8'' and the tank is 36 1/4''. So that is another option putting 36'' for the added wattage.
another option would be to raise the lights with a new hood or hang them from the ceiling like this:
my lights changed from this picture but i put in 2 actinic vhos to supplement my 2 175 mh
on my sisters 40 breeder hood, i wanted to put 4 36'' lights in the hood so i had to do some space management in the hood because with endcaps the lights are 36 6/8'' and the tank is 36 1/4''. So that is another option putting 36'' for the added wattage.
Stephany
New member
Mo:
I like how tanks with pendant lights look, dislike the look of eggcrate, but I have a fairy wrasse. What do you mean by if I have one light I should consider a center brace? If you're really coming up this way I will count the days till you come and make you dinner!
FRD:
I only have the Icecap 430, it will run 3 VHO bulbs max, I believe. I can't currently put the 36" ones on my tank because my canopy is too short. By like, 2".
Ooooh, is that a closed loop too FRD? Where did you get instructions from? Another powerhead crapped out on me today... It's so difficult to have powerheads in such a small tank.
I like how tanks with pendant lights look, dislike the look of eggcrate, but I have a fairy wrasse. What do you mean by if I have one light I should consider a center brace? If you're really coming up this way I will count the days till you come and make you dinner!
FRD:
I only have the Icecap 430, it will run 3 VHO bulbs max, I believe. I can't currently put the 36" ones on my tank because my canopy is too short. By like, 2".
Ooooh, is that a closed loop too FRD? Where did you get instructions from? Another powerhead crapped out on me today... It's so difficult to have powerheads in such a small tank.
well if she has a pendant she coould cut a holei n the top and hang it above the canopy this way the light will shine the whole tank and also will not heat b/c heat will be above canopy and she can have a fan diirectly at the pendant....i was gonna do that with a 1000 watter but decided it woould cook my center brace even though it was still 2 ft above tank...and with the reflector being pendant type the light will go down and not shine throughout the hole room.....unless its like 8 ft up like my top....but thats only if you dont want to remove you top and do like frd did with his....i like his setup, wish i could do that here personally, but i live the family life so when people come over they dont wanna see lights and hear the water noise coming from the tank...so i improvised a little, .,wish i could have an open top, that wouold make my life so much easier with heat control....hey frd how is evaporation with open top like that? damn mo, you get dinner and everything....wow, wish i was greek...lol...j/k
are you planning on staying awhile? think of an idea to rig it in case you move and you can fix any damage to get your money back for security deposit...anyway if you go pendant your gonna add fans so figure an extra 75$ in fans, and that center brace i wouldnt worry about it with a 250, thats 6 inches from the brace, use a fan to cool each bulb and you will be fine, i places a sandwich baggy under mine about 3 inches from bulb, and it didnt melt, it was there for over an hour, now that center brace is a hard plastic.....i think the only thing to worry about would be the shade spots it will create...the mh wont penetrate through it but the other bulbs will shoot around it, you wont notice anything untill you add a coral directly under that brace and see slow growth...slowly but surely you will decide whats best for your situation of living....
fishesRdelicious
New member
that is a closed loop, right now i am overhauling it to make it work with my wavemaker and i am having trouble with my pump, of all things. i designed most of it myself so let me know if you have any questions
i personally like the open top because of heat issues and also the easy access to the tank, so thats what i would consider. but like spoon said there will be light that brightens up the room and you cant really have jumpers. if you are going to go with the mh then you are going to need a new hood or hang them
you could also put an "L" brace on the wall behind the tank and hang the lights that way
i get probably 1 gallon per day of evap.
i personally like the open top because of heat issues and also the easy access to the tank, so thats what i would consider. but like spoon said there will be light that brightens up the room and you cant really have jumpers. if you are going to go with the mh then you are going to need a new hood or hang them
you could also put an "L" brace on the wall behind the tank and hang the lights that way
i get probably 1 gallon per day of evap.
Stephany
New member
FRD:
You're awesome. Thanks.
So I need a new hood. This really sucks. I paid my lfs store to build that one to match my stand... only 6 months ago.
*sigh*
On the up-side... Maybe I'll be happy with it 6 months after my new one.
Do you know of a good website that details hoods for metal halides? I haven't found any... I'll definitely be making it for a 150 metal halide, and move my actinics to the side.. and then, put one, possibly two fans in the canopy, or have it all open back (with gutter screen) with one fan to move out the air.
Before I bug you with so many questions about that closed loop in particular... is there a website you particularly found helpful?
My tank is drilled for the overflow, but not for the return. I definitely would want some sort of wavemaker on it.. People with scwds say they restrict flow..
You're awesome. Thanks.
So I need a new hood. This really sucks. I paid my lfs store to build that one to match my stand... only 6 months ago.
*sigh*
On the up-side... Maybe I'll be happy with it 6 months after my new one.
Do you know of a good website that details hoods for metal halides? I haven't found any... I'll definitely be making it for a 150 metal halide, and move my actinics to the side.. and then, put one, possibly two fans in the canopy, or have it all open back (with gutter screen) with one fan to move out the air.Before I bug you with so many questions about that closed loop in particular... is there a website you particularly found helpful?
My tank is drilled for the overflow, but not for the return. I definitely would want some sort of wavemaker on it.. People with scwds say they restrict flow..
fishesRdelicious
New member
places make them but they cost a fortune. maybe pendants are the way to go, no hood.
ask me all the questions about the CL that you want. as for links i got all my info from searching the forums here on RC back when the search worked
SCWD are only good for low flow, less than 800gph anything more and they are basically a valve. i made this mistake tring to run one with 1200gph. it worked good for a couple of months until it just stopped.
ask me all the questions about the CL that you want. as for links i got all my info from searching the forums here on RC back when the search worked
SCWD are only good for low flow, less than 800gph anything more and they are basically a valve. i made this mistake tring to run one with 1200gph. it worked good for a couple of months until it just stopped.
Stephany
New member
Cons of a pendant:
Apartment dweller:
which doesn't sound too bad if I could patch it up... and have really small things to hold the pendant... but.
I tried putting a nail in the wall for curtains, and they used plastic house siding painted the same color as the wall. That stuff would move when I tried putting the curtain rod up. Sucked.
I tried putting a hole in the wall for a shelf after I found the stud... I swear it just wouldn't go in! The nail went in like an inch and then stopped...?!
What size pump did you use for the CL? Would you recommend it? From what I hear, external is best... How many exits are there in the pvc tubing at the top? How *would* you put in a wavemaker? I wish I could afford those squirts. lol
Apartment dweller:
which doesn't sound too bad if I could patch it up... and have really small things to hold the pendant... but.
I tried putting a nail in the wall for curtains, and they used plastic house siding painted the same color as the wall. That stuff would move when I tried putting the curtain rod up. Sucked.
I tried putting a hole in the wall for a shelf after I found the stud... I swear it just wouldn't go in! The nail went in like an inch and then stopped...?!
What size pump did you use for the CL? Would you recommend it? From what I hear, external is best... How many exits are there in the pvc tubing at the top? How *would* you put in a wavemaker? I wish I could afford those squirts. lol
fishesRdelicious
New member
you could probably rig something up that attached to your stand and ran up the side of the tank and then at the top you could mount your lights to that, use like a 2 x4 or smaller.
one awesome way to find a stud is to use your magnet algea scraper. run it over the wall and it will grab when it findst the nail that is in the stud.
my pump is a blueline(panworld) 1200gph. external pumps are the best for higher gph. more efficient. my pump when running right is very quiet and if it wasnt for the cooling fan on it then you could barely hear it. there are 4 outlets coming from the wavemaker.
i will post pics after i finish my new closed loop.
on your tank you would probably only need 2 outlets, one on each side of the tank and maybe 1000gph pump on it.
one awesome way to find a stud is to use your magnet algea scraper. run it over the wall and it will grab when it findst the nail that is in the stud.
my pump is a blueline(panworld) 1200gph. external pumps are the best for higher gph. more efficient. my pump when running right is very quiet and if it wasnt for the cooling fan on it then you could barely hear it. there are 4 outlets coming from the wavemaker.
i will post pics after i finish my new closed loop.
on your tank you would probably only need 2 outlets, one on each side of the tank and maybe 1000gph pump on it.
