Upgrading to MH lighting -- some questions

[wintrmte]

All:
We are making the move to MH lighting for our 80 gal. tank.
The setup I am purchasing is a dual 400W retrofit kit with two Ushio 10K bulbs.
My questions here are:
1. Is the wooden canopy in which these are going to be mounted, going to get too hot and catch fire somehow?
2. The tank currently has a glass cover. Will the heat from the MH lights cause the glass to shatter somehow?
By glass cover, I mean the glass pieces that are on top of the fish tank, to prevent water from the tank spashing up into the canopy lighting.
Lastly, I currently have 2 120mm fans at each end of the canopy. Will this be enough to disapate the heat from the MH lights, or should I throw in a couple more fans?
Thanks!!

 

[redxlch]

400 mh get hot. I've got 250w and my elbow has a burn on it right now

Perhaps you should post a pic of your canopy or at least give dimensions. My lioghts are about 9 inches from the side of the canopy and it only gets warm.
The heat alone will not break the glass. It's when you spash water on it and it cools off rapidly that it will break. IMO, lose the glass. You will get a more evaporation and have to top off more, but that is a good thing right?
How many CFM those fans got?

 

[tizzo]

Do you have a chiller for your tank?? Cause those 400 watters get real hot!! And if you are insulating the heat in the tank with those glass covers, you will need something to keep your tank cool. I only have 250's and they are suspended from the ceiling and I have no glass covers and my tank gets to 82, the room temp is 74. AND i have dual fans!!

 

[wintrmte]

Hmm. From some of the other posts I have read, most people do not need to buy chillers, especially if you are in an environment where there is little to no humidity in the air.
Being in Idaho, we hardly ever have any humidity, and the temp here averages around 90 in the summer, and wicked cold in the winter.
My house is usually around 70 in the winter and summer.

 

[tizzo]

Yeah, if you keep your house at 70 you should be OK.
1) I have never heard of a canopy catching fire, but I don't know if people used any special wood or not either.
2) the heat will not shatter the glass, but if it has a little plastic strip down the center, it will prolly melt.
3)I would throw on as many fans as I could if I were you. I have seen where people put a couple on the back and one on each end.
Good luck and takes lotsa pics during the building stages. We love pics.

 

[wintrmte]

Will do. I will get some before shots of our tank tomorrow or sunday. The MH lights are scheduled to be here on Monday, so I'll get pix of those once I get them installed.

 

[golfish]

Originally posted by Wintrmte
1. Is the wooden canopy in which these are going to be mounted, going to get too hot and catch fire somehow?

You'll want to leave an air gap between the reflector and wood...
Originally posted by Wintrmte
2. The tank currently has a glass cover. Will the heat from the MH lights cause the glass to shatter somehow?

Probably not..but I would remove the glass anyway.. Your going to have enough problems trying to contol the tank temp, having the glass on top will just make things worse.
Originally posted by Wintrmte
By glass cover, I mean the glass pieces that are on top of the fish tank, to prevent water from the tank spashing up into the canopy lighting.

I'd remove em...You need to have your MH bulbs at least 8" from the water surface. You shouldn't have any water splashing that high.
Originally posted by Wintrmte
Lastly, I currently have 2 120mm fans at each end of the canopy. Will this be enough to disapate the heat from the MH lights, or should I throw in a couple more fans?
Thanks!!
You wont find the answer to that until you get everything running.
Good luck

 

[bigdjp]

I agree with Golfish. I just put 2 250W MH in my wood canopy for my 55. After having the lights on for about 45 minutes the wood was so hot I couldn't touch it and it had a burning smell. I put som 5/8" spacers between the reflector and canopy and everything is fine now.

 

[wintrmte]

Well, I got the 400W's installed and think I am going to exchange them for the 2 250W kit instead.
The 400W's were incredibly bright and definitely did raise the tank temp.
I'm not sure that going with the 2 250W halide's will help the tank temp at all, but you would think that it would output 1/2 the amount of heat that the 400's did?

 

[wintrmte]

Here's a shot of my tank before the 400W bulbs

 

[wintrmte]

Here's a shot of the tank with the 400W bulbs on.