What keeps my lights from falling in?

[catherine]

I asked about lights on the reef forum, then thought perhaps I should be asking here instead. My tank is a 20 gallon long tank (four months old). I sent for the lights: two 65 watt flourescent, one blue, one white. The small corals seem to be happy and growing so far. BUT--when it arrived I found it is not as long as the tank. There are several inches on each end. So the only thing I could think of was to place it on the glass cover. This works, but it seems somewhat unsafe to me--what if the cover were to slip in? Also, it is VERY inconvenient, as every time I want to do something in the tank I have to take the lights off. They are inside their own hood and reflecter with a little fan. They are nice lights, but WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO BE SITTING ON? I have gone from web site to web site and can't find an answer to this problem. I am very discouraged over this, as they were not cheap--please help.

 

[beth]

The problem is that you didn't order lights that fit your tank.
How long is your tank? When you order lighting, you should measure out the length of your tank and the space you have available on the top of your tank, then pick lights that match up that dimension. In my FO, I had a glass top and a single florescent light. It spanned the width of my tank and the light housing rested on the rim of the tank, not the glass. When I opened the glass canopy I didn't need to move the light around because it rested on the back side of the tank. Or, if I placed the light in the middle, all I had to do is slide the light back to open the glass.

 

[david s]

u have a 20 long lights are probubly for a regular 20 gal thats the diff in the few inches for light to sit on edge of tank did u get them localy or from the web ???

 

[catherine]

Oh. Darn, darn, darn. I ordered them from Marine Depot, and the reason I ordered from them is that they have a phone number, so you can tell them what you need. I did tell them exactly what size tank I have so I trustingly supposed that they sent the right size, and I was too dim to understand the system. I guess I'll try calling them back, but I have been making do with this for a while, and I'll bet they won't take it back. There is not really anyone around here to ask about things--my lfs is not very knowledgable.
Thanks for your answer--if you have any thoughts as to how I could make it work let me know. Or maybe the cheapest thing would be to try to find an aquarium that matches the size of the lights!