Lighting for a 92 gallon corner tank?

[marciemp]

We are looking at getting new lighting for our 92 gallon corner tank. It is shaped like a 1/4 of a pie.

Right now it has a coralife 2 bulb pc fixture, that is in need of new bulbs and is not cutting it anyways. I was looking at getting retrofit t5s with icecap ballasts. The tank already runs pretty hot with the lights, as they are in a wooden canopy. I know I could help that by cutting some vents in the canopy and adding some fans too. The shape of the tank is very hard to light. It can have a max of 36" fixture with perhaps a 24" fixture behind, and I have seen someone put (retrofit) 4 t5 36" bulbs then 4 24" t5's behind, so the whole tank is lit. I have seen someone put a MH in the middle on top of the canopy with a big hole cut in the middle of the canopy and then with some t5s inside the canopy around in a triangle. I have even thought about just getting new bulbs for what we have for now and waiting until the LED fixtures go down in price, although they are not neccesarily good for odd shaped tanks.

I don't want to spend so much money on something and then have it be obsolete in a year, so what is my best bet?

Are retrofits relatively easy to wire? Do the ballasts need to be outside the canopy? What would we attach everything too? It seems like it could be an issue if they are attached directly to the canopy and it needed to be removed.

Right now even our zoa's are not liking the light (lack of light), but I would like to be able to branch out a bit and add more colourful corals. How do I know what I have enough light for once we upgrade?

Thanks,
Marcie

[Skimmerking]

try having a 400w right in the middle of it. that works or have 2x 175w angled off in the top of the canopy... or run 4 2 foots of VHO in the hood but make them angle off too.

[marciemp]

Would a 400w or 2 175 w make the tank really hot? All we have right now is a 36" power compact with 2 bulbs ad the tank is at 78-80F with no heater. Our house is at 75 or less, the tank is not near a vent, and it is on one outside wall that is always shaded. Inside the canopy is very warm, so it must be the light heating the water, or could it be a powerhead, there are 3, plus a small one for the skimmer?
In the summer it was way to hot, reaching 86 at least, and our house was warmer but not scorching because our windows face north.
So I am really concerned about heat from lights. The canopy is probably what does it but I am not willing to take it off as it is in our living room and needs to look nice. I could vent it better but I am also worried about too much evaporation, as I don't have a top off and we go away in the summer quite a bit, and only have people stop in every few days. Would vents and fans cause a lot of evap?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks

[Skimmerking]

The best thing that i would do is If you are the type of person to go away alot then you need to get your self a topp off for the tank then, it will save you the heart ache of having some adding water to you tank.

With lighting you will get heat from MH so if you are going to add one then add a set of fans to the cano[y and be ware that this will cause humidity in the canopy and the fans are going to blow this into your house. If you house is damp it won't really matter, if you haouse is dry it will help it somewhat.

I would go with a 400 w in the middle. a single 400 is better then qx175 IMO,, its going to be up to you for what you are keepingin the tank... if you are going only with softies and you just want a few thing s in the tank. Go for a 175 singel over the tank. Or go with a single 250 HQI, or even if you are getting into SPS and clams and mega flow then do 2x 400w there are a few guys out there runningthem in a corner tank.

Its all going to depend on what you want and what you can afford.. you canopy will need fans and should be high enough to hold the Mh lighting.