Will this work?

[garnet13aj]

I just bought a 46g bowfront tank and I was hoping to use 36" Metal Halide Aquarium Reef Light Lunar HQI 442W (see picture). The problem is the bowfront has a supportive strip running across the top (see picture) that will block out the best light from the metal halide. Can I just wrap foil around the strip so it reflects back up and then hopefully back down into the tank? Doesn't seem like the best idea to me, but I really like this setup because I'm not great at DIY electronics and I like that this setup was already put together for me and has a nice combo of lights.
What would you suggest I use for lights/what do you use?
I'm going to be starting with the easy/less demanding corals but like the idea of keeping an anemone or clam in the future.
Thanks for any advice!

This setup includes: 1x 250W HQI metal halide, 2x 96W Actinic Blue CF lamps, and 4x Bluemoon LED into one single unit. This unit also features external HQI controller, heavy duty cooling fan, mounting legs, and anodized aluminum housing.
Tank: You can see the supportive strip under the light fixture holding the tank from front to back.

 

[scsinet]

Using foil like this will simply bounce light all over the place but little if any will end up back in the tank. No matter what, you'll end up with a very obvious shadow.
Perhaps more troubling is that the halide light will heat that center brace, even with foil. That can affect the structural integrity of the tank. I would not recommend running any halide directly over a center brace.
On this tank, I'd use something other than halide. T5 or LED would be ideal for this. PC is of course also an option but I don't recommend PC systems because they are outdated and cost a ton to run in lamp replacements.
If you did want halide and wanted to keep light loving animals (clams, anemones, etc), I'd look for a system with (2) 150w halides so your center brace is not directly exposed to the radiation from the halides.

 

[acrylic51]

Agree +1

 

[garnet13aj]

Yeah, I've seen a few of the double halide fixtures, but they get pricey fast! I just called my local fish store, about the only one in the area that deals with saltwater and is at all knowledgeable on the subject. The guy I talked to said I could do a T5 HO setup and it would work for anemones and clams as well, does that make sense? He said it comes with two 2X39 watt bulbs.

 

[acrylic51]

T5's would work, but I'd try to stuff more than 2 bulbs over the tank to support clams....Maybe Spanko or NikeSB will chime in.....they know their lighting!!!!! Not that SCSInet doesn't......

 

[garnet13aj]

Thanks so much for the input! Electronics are not my strongpoint :S

 

[garnet13aj]

Okay,
I found a system at has two 2X39w T5 HO's and 6 blue moonlight LED's, how does that sound? Do the LEDs give it enough of a boost for the anemones and corals?
Also, in general, how do you know when to change out lights? Can you just wait until they burn out or does it need to be more scheduled than that, do they lost effectiveness with use?

 

[garnet13aj]

I feel a bit crazy trying to make up my mind :S It's just that there are so many options! I found an old thread that said someone replaced the plastic with acrylic and had no problem using the metal halide after that and I'm thinking of doing the same now that I've see this. It doesn't sound too hard to replace.
Any thoughts on pc's. Seems like some people think they are outdated but I found a light fixture with MH and pc for a pretty good price...

 

[garnet13aj]

Ugh,
First of all, I recognize that I am mostly talking to myself here, but I'm hoping some people with more experience will chime in at some point and also it's a way to document my thought process.
Of course I though replacing the plastic with acrylic would be easy (just get some acrylic and some plastic and walla, improved fish tank). My local hardware store says he has no idea where to get epoxy for plastic or acrylic strips...Definitely leaning more toward to T5 fixture now I guess...

 

[acrylic51]

Patience!!!!!!!!

Again I would look for a fixture with more than 2 T5's......The moonlights are for night time viewing, and won't add/boost light output for the clams......
With that said you could replace your cross brace with acrylic, but might be easier doing it with glass, but that would involve removing your black trim totally from the tank and euro bracing the tank with the new cross bracing. If you search online, you'll find places that sell acrylic glue. Just do a search for WeldOn. I'm not sure exactly which glue would be the correct 1, but I'm sure WeldOn 3,4,16 aren't the ones....40 might work, but when I was on ISP's website they list out what their adhesives are designed for......check out isp.com....they are the makers of WeldOn.....HTH

 

[garnet13aj]

Which ones are considered moon lights? Are the blue actinics moon lights? Most of the fixtures with more than 2 lights seem to come with actinics as the extra bulbs.

 

[scsinet]

No, Actinic lights are used to supplement metal halide lighting.
Moonlights are usually a small number of LEDs placed across the fixture to impart some illumination on the tank at night. They serve no purpose to the livestock, it's only for looks and hobbyist preference.

 

[spanko]

I would suggest for this tank the Tek-Light T5 HO Fixture - 3 ft - 6 Lamp - 39W - 36 in. x 15 3/4 in. x 2 1/2 in. around $350.00.
6 lamps give you a number of lamp color options.

 

[nikesb]

6 lamps will give you an awesome range of bulb combos to choose. just did some testing of bulbs and really liked 2 KZ superblue, 2 ATI blue+, 1 KZ fiji purple, 1 purple +

 

[garnet13aj]

While I love the idea of a 6 lamp setup, I was able to find a 4 lamp T5 HO setup for about 180 which is much more affordable for me at the moment. Pretty excited about it and I think my corals will be happy for the most part as well