Reef Tank Lighting

[jsolomon]

I am looking to switch my FO tank over to a reef tank. I would rather build a custom hood for my lights than buy one. Has anyone built a hood for a reef tank, how hard is it, is it much cheaper to build one than it is to buy one? I am going to need one to power lights for a 92 gallon corner tank with a bow front. (looks like 1/4 of a circle).

 

[jsolomon]

Another thing I will have to worry about is my tank is built into the wall. I know that MH bulbs get extremely hot. There is about 4' or so of open space above the tank right now. would this be enough space to disapate some of the heat so that the heat doesnt get to the tank?

 

[hunterdaddy]

I dont know how much this will help but from what I know this might be an option.
Make a heatsink. Put some type of material that absorbs heat very well in contact or extremely close to the MH lights. Thats how we dissapate heat in electrical circuits. I dont know why it wouldnt work for this purpose unless water absorbs heat better than anything else. (which it does not)