Do I have to; 'cause I don't want to (lighting)

[Hal1]

I've read all the posts on canopy/no canopy, but didn't see my question answered, so here it is:

If I run my 150 (48x24x30h) with the PFO hood, 2 250 W Iwasakis and 2 VHO actinics, all powered by Icecap ballasts and 2 icecap fans, can I sit my hood right on the glass canopy?

I'm less concerned with the heat on the glass (that I did see in the other posts, and consensus seemed to be that the canopy could take it ) as I am with the spread of light from the MH's (closer to the water = less spread of light), although feel free to chime in on either.

Jason at Premium Aquatics said I should raise the hood 8-12 inches over the canopy, but I don't want to take his advice.

Thanks.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

I have 250w bulbs mounted 3 inches above my glass lid with two fans for cooling.

I use toughened glass over the area heated by the bulbs - the glass gets very hot.

I tried using ordinary glass and with cooling it was still okay after 30 minutes. Without cooling it cracked within 10 minutes.

 

[Hal1]

Does "toughened" = tempered, or something else?

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

Sure - that's the same thing.

 

[MiNdErAsR]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hal:
<STRONG>Jason at Premium Aquatics said I should raise the hood 8-12 inches over the canopy, but I don't want to take his advice.

</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Let me get this straight...you didn't get the advise you wanted to hear, so you're not listening?

Correct me if I'm wrong, please!

IMO you shouldn't have a glass canopy over the tank anyway. It limits water/air surface exchange, which is not good.

 

[liquid]

I agree w/ MiNdErAsR. I would not run a glass "canopy" between lights and the tank either. It limits gas exchange, allows heat to buildup within the tank, could potentially break spewing shards of glass into the tank, etc. IMHO get rid of the glass "canopy" and run your tank with an open top.

Heh, based on the wording of your initial question are you going to listen to our advice or go to another board and ask the same question like you did w/ Jason's answer.

Not flaming you or anything, just giving you a hard time...

liquid

[ October 08, 2001: Message edited by: LiquidShaneo ]

 

[Anonymous]

You could always just build some supports for the PFO hood. I did something similiar for my Hamilton hood, you can see bits of it in this pic:

Open top tank, hood only 4" above the water line, and the supports are wide enough to allow me to slide the hood back and out of way for when I need to get into the tank.

 

[Hal1]

Minderaser: No, I'm not forum shopping. I know that with reefs, ask 5 people and you'll get 6 opinions. I wanted to determine if others had gone against Jason's advice and had it work out just fine (hence the smiley in the post). So far I know of 1 person who has, but my sample size is still low.

Liquidshaneo (and others): I'm not worried about gas excange for 2 reasons. First, I think the diminuation of gas exchange due to a canopy is overrated. My tank will not be air tight, or even close to it with a canopy. I might even run without the vinyl pieces in the back of the canopy. Second, I'm going to run a sump and a big skimmer (Aqua-c EV-180), both of which should blast air into my water (well, ok, the sump won't blast, but will have 1500gph run through it).

No offense taken with anyone's counter-opinion. That's why I write in: to see what people think.

I think cjdevito's idea has a lot of merit. I just want to see how close to the glass I can get to avoid light pouring into my family room or having to buy a wood hood to prevent it. I'm thinking 1-2 inch risers instead of his 4.

I agree heat build up is a concern. I'm balancing this with less frequent top off's needed (less maintenance is good). That's also why I've chosen the icecap ballasts and 2 fans.

 

[I14Green]

I have 2 - 250 W MH German 10,000k bulbs about 12 "'s above my 90 gal high reef with a home made hood hanging from the ceiling- no cover or canopy what so ever and it works fantastic ! I hang a peice of plastic siding to help keep glare from blinding people- Check my site out you can see what I have done - I14Green

AJWEB.COM