80g. Cylinder Tank Lighting HELP!

[Telford]

80g. Cylinder tank that is covered with a wooden lid. I currently have 4 t5's retrofitted under the canopy. The measurement of the tank/lid across is just over 28". I have about 5" of depth to work with.

I want to somehow get a MH under the lid but having a hard time finding something that will fit. Then i don't know if a halide will heat up the tank too much being under a lid? I also don't know if they get to hot to be mounted onto a wooden lid? Do i need to supplement halide with t5 still? Finally i don't know if it would be that much better then the T5's?

I found this possible solution...

www.bulkreefsupply.com/Metal-Halide-and-T5-Lighting-Metal-Halide-Lighting-Metal-Halide-Reflectors/c57_73_79/p395/REEF-OPTICS-2-RETROFIT-REFLECTOR/product_info.html

Here are a few pictures to give you a better idea of what i'm dealing with. Thanks in advance for any suggestions/comments.

3241

3242

[FitoPharmer]

that is gonna be a really hard squeeze. and i dont see a way of doing it with the ballast inside, so you would have to use a remote ballast. that creates "sleakness" issues most of the time and is very hard to cover up. the problem that i see other then that is that even with a 150w MH light its suggested to be a foot off the water. heat transfer, light distribution, and splashing issues come to mind if its not.

[Chin_Lee]

80g. Cylinder tank that is covered with a wooden lid. I currently have 4 t5's retrofitted under the canopy. The measurement of the tank/lid across is just over 28". I have about 5" of depth to work with.

I want to somehow get a MH under the lid but having a hard time finding something that will fit. Then i don't know if a halide will heat up the tank too much being under a lid? I also don't know if they get to hot to be mounted onto a wooden lid? Do i need to supplement halide with t5 still? Finally i don't know if it would be that much better then the T5's?

I found this possible solution...

www.bulkreefsupply.com/Metal-Halide-and-T5-Lighting-Metal-Halide-Lighting-Metal-Halide-Reflectors/c57_73_79/p395/REEF-OPTICS-2-RETROFIT-REFLECTOR/product_info.html (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/Metal-Halide-and-T5-Lighting-Metal-Halide-Lighting-Metal-Halide-Reflectors/c57_73_79/p395/REEF-OPTICS-2-RETROFIT-REFLECTOR/product_info.html)

Here are a few pictures to give you a better idea of what i'm dealing with. Thanks in advance for any suggestions/comments.


You may consider these:
http://oceanaquatics.com/store/product/561/Reefstar-150W-10K/

Its only 3.5" high and your ballast can go under in the cabinet.

Possible issues:
- heat in which case you should consider putting in a fan to vent out heat when you light turns on.
- lighting shadow: I can't tell from the picture if the center overflow is directly in the center or off to one side. And I can't tell if the opening is even in the front and back of the tank. If the openings are big enough, you may consider two of the pendants. Attach the pendants on a metal bar that is attached to the canopy with one bolt balanced in the middle. This will allow you to pivot the light over the opening and when you need access into the tank, you can pivot turn the light to the sides.
similar to this idea but your turning of the lights to gain access will be manual
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o309/chin_lee/300%20Gallon%20Cube%20Tank/Picture021.jpg

[mseepman]

If you are into DIY, you might try fitting two of these under the hood: http://www.aquabuys.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=70w_mh_retrofit&Category_Code=d9&Product_Count=0

They are really small, I used one on my nano tank (you can look at the thread here: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=41662&page=2)

Probably only 2 inches high, easy to bolt to anything, very small footprint so that you can keep some T5 to suppliment the lighting.

This would give you the MH shimmer and give you some of the decent light you are looking for. I know 70W isn't much but two of them looks like they would fit on either side of your center brace and still allow you room to leave some T5, and put a fan in to blow across for cooling.

I'm not sure if Aquabuys still ships to Canada or not though, so you'd have to check. They were great when I dealt with them.

[Telford]

If you are into DIY, you might try fitting two of these under the hood: http://www.aquabuys.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=70w_mh_retrofit&Category_Code=d9&Product_Count=0

They are really small, I used one on my nano tank (you can look at the thread here: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=41662&page=2)

Probably only 2 inches high, easy to bolt to anything, very small footprint so that you can keep some T5 to suppliment the lighting.

This would give you the MH shimmer and give you some of the decent light you are looking for. I know 70W isn't much but two of them looks like they would fit on either side of your center brace and still allow you room to leave some T5, and put a fan in to blow across for cooling.

I'm not sure if Aquabuys still ships to Canada or not though, so you'd have to check. They were great when I dealt with them.

That looks like a good option, thanks for the link. Still waiting to hear back if they ship to Canada.

Anyone else know of something similar?