MH and T5 lighting

T

Tab64

AC Members
Aug 15, 2006
124
0
0
Orlando, FL
Well now I am looking to revamp my lighting. So now I am looking into what I will need. I have a heat problem with the 4 t5 under a canopy combined with Florida heat. The tank is 55 gallon long.

I want to keep the canopy for looks to hide the hang-ons. So I will be removing the center flip lid allowing a 48"x10" opening to help allow air movement. The current canopy traps all the heat under it. This will remove 2 of the t5's. I will still have 2 t5's with an ice cap ballast and would like to add a MH. I do not need the MH fixtures with additional lights (and costs) and would like to limit the new open space being covered. Could I get away with 1-175 watt or better yet 1-150 watt MH pendant fiture? These are only 12" long and allow the remaining 36" for air to escape from the top and install those little cooling fans. Also what k to get I have seen 10, 14 and 20k. I now have LPS and softies but would like to keep SPS. Do I have to maintain at least one of the t5's to be pure blue?
 
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i'm still confused on what you are trying to do.... you dont want a fixture going across because it would block airflow, you said before you cant put in a retro because the canopy was made for t5s and is too small to fit MH, and when i suggest a pendant before you said no because your cielding was too high and you didnt want to deal with it. so how are you goign to put a pendant there? you could hang it from a brace or clamp or something above the tank, but iwould imagine that would ruin the looks of the caopy that you wanted.
i personaly think your best bet to acomplish everything you want is to get a new canopy with some holes drilled in the sides for some fans...
as far as the bulbs, the k rating is up to you and whatever you think looks best. keep in mind that the higher the K the lower the PAR but the more color you will get (assuming the corals get enough light... you proably wont be able to keep acros on the bottom of your tank with a 150 of 175). and for the t5s, you dont need any of them to be blue. i think it looks nice to have some actinic supplimation, but not everyone does. if you want to have all pure white 10000Ks then go for it.
 
Sorry I did not know that they were called pendant style. I thought pendant style were the drop light kind that came from the ceiling. But I quess pendant is the actual case style, not limited to how you hang it. I would be mounting the unit to the actual canopy either by legs, or brackets to the wood canopy. Thanks for the idea of the fans in the canopy sides. That way if I have to get a longer unit with 2 MH I can put the fans there.
 
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