Coralife PC, and my tank hood...

[dcr]

Hello all,
I have a 30 gallon tall acrylic, and a 65wx2 Coralife PC light fixture. I had the light up on the acrylic legs so it sat 2-3 inches above the tank. Now, my wife wants the wooden hood back on the tank, and in order to do that, I need to set the light directly on top of the tank.
The main issue is that the tank gets a little hotter with the light that close to the tank, and the light can't properly dissipate heat because the hood is almost covering it. I thought about cutting some fans into the tank hood, or something, but I am wondering if anyone has run into this.

 

[qn5]

I took the lights and reflector out of the fixture and just screwed them in the canopy. If you do this, make sure to mount the ballast outside the canopy.

 

[acrylic51]

The fixtures do run alittle warm IMO.....You could take the fixture apart and mount, or you could drill holes through the housing and mount the entire fixture inside the hood........JMO

 

[f14peter]

Facing a similar, albeit on a large scale, issue. Have an AGA tank with their basic, slatted-top cover and then bought a CoraLife PC fixture without realizing it wouldn't fit under the cover.
Here's my remedy as I'm working on it now . . .
- I got some 1x2 pine and cut small pieces that I screwed to the cover under the parts that rest on the tank . . . this elevates the cover over the tank to a point that it just barely overhangs the edge of the tank, and allows room for the fixture.

- Wanting to use the fixture legs to raise it above the water, I sanded a grove with a Dremel tool the bottom edge of the sides of the cover to allow it to fit over the part of the legs that overhang the edge of the tank.

- Next step, is to use a hole-saw to cut holes in the side of the cover for the inlets for the fixtures ventilation fans. These will be trimmed with those grommet gizmos made for running computer/power cables through desk tops. I'll also drill holes in the cover slats to allow ventilation for the fan outputs.
All cuts/bare wood will be thickly coated with an exterior latex paint.

 

[cgrant]

I remember seeing a mounting bracket for coralife pc's but dont remember what online store it was? Sorry!
Basically replaced the legs with a top mounting bracket, they clamped into that "slide rail" on the fixture.
edit...forgot to mention that clearance might be your biggest problem, i guess depends on the canopy depth?

 

[dcr]

I'll have to measure depth, but off the top of my head, I know it can't be more that 3.5-4" of room under it.
There are some good suggestions here, and I will examine the canopy for all options before I start cutting holes in it.