lighting with hanging pendant

[pohwalee]

Hi

I am about to set up a 120G planted tanks. My plants are low-to-midium
light demanding kinds of plants. I REALLY love to use a hanging pendant
lighting on a open-top tank. But I don't want to use Metal Halide due to the
price tag and heat.
Do you know any Compact or VHO T5 is with hanging pendant since
most of them seem to be put right on the top of the tank? OR anyone knows
if I can do a DIY cable to hang this kind of lighting? Was there a reason
that they only have hanging pendant light system for Metal Halide?

Thanks for your help

Paul

[phanmc]

I've only seen pendent design used for PC lighting by ADA, which costs as much as most MH fixtures unfortunately.

The T5HOs fixtures are usually in combination with a MH lamp, haven't seen one using exclusively T5s.

One of the reason you see the pendent design used almost exclusively by MH is because MH offers better depth penetration through water than most fluorescents. Hang a NO Fluorescent several inches above the water surface and you'll lose a significant amount of light in the lower depths. I guess over time manufacturers haven't really considered the improvements in VHO lights so they never developed a pendent fixture using just VHO lights.

[loaches r cool]

...Was there a reason
that they only have hanging pendant light system for Metal Halide?

Thanks for your help

Paul

Probably because MH is small enough to make it into a nice pendant. 400W of flourescent is usually like 4' long or more and like 8 bulbs across. That isnt what comes to mind when I think 'pendant'. But a 400W MH is just a bit bigger than a regular screw in bulb (just for example). But fluorescent fixtures are often able to be hung from above like a pendant, there just bigger because they are flourescent. The only smallish way to use fluoros would be to get an incandescent pendant and use some screw-in spiral bulbs (but it wont be as efficient as linear).

[pohwalee]

Thanks you all for your help. I have one more question. If I eventually have
to go with Metal Halide with hanging pendant, is it a must that I need a
water cooling system due to the heat from MH? Could I get away with it
by using lower watage of the MH? Say my tank is 120G with mid-to-low light
demanding plants, would a 175W MH do the job and without the need for
cooling system?

Thanks