ajax
New Member
Hey all,
I'm a saltwater aquarium newbie and I was looking for some advice. I just bought a 55 gallon tank off Craigslist, and am trying to figure out most what the heck to do with the hood. The aquarium itself came with two hoods and fluorescent lights (which stink), and is built for that. To give an idea, I found this picture which is almost exactly what my aquarium hood looks like right now (minus the fact that the tank is freshwater):
As you can see, there are two hoods, and the tank itself is built for two hoods as it has a divider going through the middle of the top/opening. However, I upgraded to a 48" Coralife T5 (instead of two smaller ones) which stretches across and over both hoods. I would prefer to have the one light over two smaller T5's since it is cheaper that way..but a few things bug me:
1. It looks tacky when I lay out the newly polished T5 over both old two hoods (removing lights, it does still fit across both spaces.) Try to picture 1 long Coralife T5 replacing the two in the picture, with the flip up feeders out in front. In a nutshell, I want to get rid of the two hoods that originally held the single fluorescent lights.
2. Although it fits when you lay it across, the divider blocks out an inch or so. (Not that big of a deal)
3. If I remove the existing two hoods and just use the new light, there obviously isn't any cover.
So I guess my question is, what would YOU do?! What do MOST people do with a T5 Coralife, and how could I tailor that to this goofy plastic divider thing? I was contemplating cutting out the hood divider with a hacksaw or something, if nothing else to just allow as much light as possible. Was also thinking about getting glass, and/or a canopy? I realize it may come down to preference here, but I'm really at a loss and cannot seem to find many options for hoods without getting an entire set. Any thoughts/recommendations are appreciated...
thanks!
I'm a saltwater aquarium newbie and I was looking for some advice. I just bought a 55 gallon tank off Craigslist, and am trying to figure out most what the heck to do with the hood. The aquarium itself came with two hoods and fluorescent lights (which stink), and is built for that. To give an idea, I found this picture which is almost exactly what my aquarium hood looks like right now (minus the fact that the tank is freshwater):
As you can see, there are two hoods, and the tank itself is built for two hoods as it has a divider going through the middle of the top/opening. However, I upgraded to a 48" Coralife T5 (instead of two smaller ones) which stretches across and over both hoods. I would prefer to have the one light over two smaller T5's since it is cheaper that way..but a few things bug me:
1. It looks tacky when I lay out the newly polished T5 over both old two hoods (removing lights, it does still fit across both spaces.) Try to picture 1 long Coralife T5 replacing the two in the picture, with the flip up feeders out in front. In a nutshell, I want to get rid of the two hoods that originally held the single fluorescent lights.
2. Although it fits when you lay it across, the divider blocks out an inch or so. (Not that big of a deal)
3. If I remove the existing two hoods and just use the new light, there obviously isn't any cover.
So I guess my question is, what would YOU do?! What do MOST people do with a T5 Coralife, and how could I tailor that to this goofy plastic divider thing? I was contemplating cutting out the hood divider with a hacksaw or something, if nothing else to just allow as much light as possible. Was also thinking about getting glass, and/or a canopy? I realize it may come down to preference here, but I'm really at a loss and cannot seem to find many options for hoods without getting an entire set. Any thoughts/recommendations are appreciated...
thanks!
