placement of lights....

[lbannie]

Today I made a top for my 30 gal tank out of egg crate. I had my favorite purple psuedochromis jump a while back. My 4 bulb t5 fixture used to be on the legs it came with about 4-5 inches over the tank. I never liked the way it looked or how much light escapes into my living room! With my new eggcrate top I can sit the light right on top of the tank! It looks much better to me, and the light seems to be brighter in the tank. Will it be ok like this??



Not such good pics, first is with flash, second without, third from top looking down.
P.S. my glass needs to be cleaned!!

 

[meowzer]

Personally I would not....I haev egg crate on all my tanks, but for the 54G and the 29G I still use the legs......I just would not feel comfortable laying it on the tank like that
this is my opinion

 

[acrylic51]

Are the bulbs resting on the eggcrate?

 

[1snapple]

I would get it off of the eggcrate and make legs 2-3" off.
How do you cut eggcrate?

 

[al&burke]

You can cut it on a table saw or band saw, make sure you use a fine tothed saw blade - crosscut blade

 

[1snapple]

Anything a little more, uh........... user friendly?

 

[acrylic51]

If the bulbs aren't resting on the eggcrate I don't see any harm.

 

[lbannie]

The light is resting on the rim of tank.....It just fits, so the egg crate is level with rim in case it gets bumped! I cut it so it's snug on the inside of a lip on the top of tank and cut openings for the overflow and heater... I cut the egg crate with wire cutters (cutting pliers) I like it a lot better now....No blinding light when you're sitting on the couch!