T5 retro fit canopy

[shawne]

I am planning on building a canopy for my 40 breeder. I have a few questions, how high should the lights be from the water? 4 or 6 bulb retro fit? Also does anyone have any plans or know where to look to get the basic idea to make this build look nice? This weekend I finished the stand, stained it black, and drilled and installed my glass-holes overflow and returns. Now its time to get the canopy built so the cycle can begin!!

thanks, shawne

 

[cjilge]

mine is between 6-8" of the water and I would go 6 bulb for sure, imho

 

[shawne]

yeah i am leaning toward the 6 since we talked, still looking around for some ideas to build the canopy before i just wing it lol

 

[cjilge]

I winged mine! its not to bad at all. lol mine is 7" off the water and i get pretty good par all the way to the bottom. last summer I checked it and it was around 150 atthe bottom and 260+ at the top 2-3" of water. its going to depend on your light set up more. I only run ho ballast and don't "overdrive" the bulb, but I think its a matter of opinion, i like to only change the bulbs once a year and when I overdrive the bulbs I only got about 8 months out of the bulbs before they started to go down. make sure you acount for the stand off space and height of the endcaps when designing, otherwise you will end up with bulbs about 3" off the water and won't be able to work in the tank with lights on. good luck. I sugest going to some stores and to a few fellow reefers house and chek out theirs. you've seen mine so if you need any dems just lmk. good luck!