how high off water to mount halides??

solow11

Member
i got my new 400w 20,000k halides x2 today. with the batwing reflectors and am building a canopy for them. how high off the water is reccommended for heat and intensity? am not running a lid and tank is a 180 26" deep thanks
 

solow11

Member
no fans yet. am doing an open hood and will see if too much heat. i was hoping for 20 -24" what do you think?
 

mr.125

Member
IMO 400w - 20-24" your compinsating the spectrum.
I would try and stay closer to 18"....maybe someone with alittle more knowledge will chime in...
 

mrdc

Active Member
My two 250 are 8 - 10 inches (need to measure again) above the water but I use two 4 3/4" fans I got from Radioshack. My temp never moves. I thought I would need more fans but luckily I don't. I also built my canopy with slits in the top for ventilation.
 

zman1

Active Member
Originally Posted by solow11
got my new 400w 20,000k halides x2 today. with the batwing reflectors and am building a canopy for them. how high off the water is reccommended for heat and intensity? am not running a lid and tank is a 180 26" deep thanks

[hr]
no fans yet. am doing an open hood and will see if too much heat. i was hoping for 20 -24" what do you think?
Does your 180 have the two typical cross member/supports. I am guessing why you want to set the 2 bulbs that high off the tank is to get a light spread to cover the area of the tank rather than have 3 lights, 1 each per 2' of tank. This may give you the spread your looking for, but if you have the 2 braces you could cast shadows and will dampen the light intensity penetrating the water at those heights.
 

solow11

Member
im using 2 450w 20,000k halides and 3 6500k 500w enclosed flood lights. now im only using the flood lights and the soft corals and algea love them. but tank has no color. so the 20,000k on the halides will fix the whole problem. im using the halides more for the spectrum than the wattage. so i dont care about shadows. im worried about the spectrum and heat. thanks again
 
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