Hot Halides
 

I am recieving a new 175 watt halide here soon and i want to string it srtait across me canopy with a peice of 2 by 2. if i mount the reflector and the bulb to it will the wood get too hot and burn? Also i am thinking about stringing the bulb 6 - 8 inches above the water do you think there will be any problems with this?

You should be OK mounting the reflector to the wood. Just to be safe you can always put some spacer material (metal washers etc.) between the reflector and the wood.

The height over the water will depend on how much splashing you have in your tank. I have run MH's 4"-6" above the water without a problem. But, I have also seen MH's 12-18" above the water break because of water splashing on them.

i mounted 2 400 watts with a metal reflector and it dryed out the wood because it was very hot !!! this may not happen if there is space between the reflector and wood but i found that taking house insulation
and putting a layer of it between the reflector and wood it absorpts the heat !!
works well!!! if your concerned about the heat on the wood
cheers dave

Well i have glass seperating the water from the lights i am just worried about heat exchange but i will put some wahers between the reflector and the wood

you have glass seperating? do you mean you have a canopy covering your tank? If so, lose it! it will just keep heat in and it doesn't help with the gas exchange. It could also get hot and possible crack[depending on how high your lights are] not to mention you lose some of your lights penetrating power and you'll forever be trying to keep that glass clean.
evaporation is needed to help cool the tank and you can add more KALK if your evap, is good and a glass cover will not help this.

what johnny said. also, you can protect your canopy by covering the inside with reflective material (mylar, aluminum). this way you get most lighting bang for your buck and the wood is covered.

is the wood canopy treated or painted at all?

No no no i have glass seperating the halide there will be a 3 inch crach from the top of the tank and a 2 inch crack between the halides so there is still evaporation and room for the heat to disperse

why the glass? it still will cutdown on your evaporation and impede the light. plus if you run a fan to evaporate your water [cooling] how will it do that with glass anywere? you don't need the glass just get rid of it. MH 8'' off the water is fine. with more evaporating comes better cooling[you'll need this in the summer] and you can topoff with more KALK for better coral growth and KALK also helps keep CAL,ALK in check and helps phosphate control [hair algea food!] M. HALIDES add heat so you'll need all the open space between the water and light you can get.

ur right plus i just sole the 40 gallon so i am getting a new tank so i am custom building a stand check out my new thread in the reef section called "getting new tank"on the options list i have a few questions in ther.

:mrgreen: