Fans are not just for evaporation, they also remove the air that is heated from the MH bulbs and in this case, ballasts.

I would get the electrical and ballasts out of there myself as well.

Maybe put two fans into the hidden end on the canopy, each pushing air towards the other side, and just have some nice vents in that side to let the air out?

that makes a lot of sense!

now how do i extend the wires safely? the placement was a direct result of the cord lengths! just use maretts and then elec tape?

Thanks everyone.

Brett

Well it's hand in hand.

Heat above water = Evaporation.

When I researched on RC, it's generally the removal of the evaporation that cools the water. If there was a sheet of glass above the water to prevent evaporation, and you only removed the heat build up, the water would not cool down.

I would say that is enough for electrical, but others should advise you better here. I might also put it into a plastic box to combat splashing if it is by water, these boxes are available at electrical stores.

I think the two purposes of the fans are seperate, not really hand in hand.

1. Remove the heat before it heats up your water.
2. Increase evaporation by moving air across the surface of the water.

You can use a fan passing cold air across the surface of your water to increase evaporation, it is not tied to the hot air necessarily.

I made my own Quick Disconnects for the ballasts, by using extension chords:

Quick Disconnects (scroll down)

I prefer soldering all connections, and using heat shrink around them.

GMGQ, great pics on your site. I think I am going to have to steal your quick disconnect idea too :mrgreen:

Heh, I stole it from someone else too, so it's all good!

Just be sure to get Heavy Duty extension chords, rated to handle the wattage of your ballasts.

Will do, thanks.

Back to lastlight's question, how do you heatshrink? Does a hair dryer provide enough heat?

Yeah for wider heatshrink I use a heat gun, but a hair dryer is totally fine too (the angle of air will just be wider, whereas a heat gun is more focused).

For smaller heatshrink (like 1/8"), I sometimes just put the soldering iron under it and slowly heat around the heatshrink until it shribbles up.