Recommended lights for 6 inches from tank.

heidisdad2

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Building my first tank from scratch and the one thing i overlooked was giving a solid design to the cabinet make who built my tank.

what happened was he ended up building a canopy with no venting and only 7.5 inches tall. The underside of the canopy sits about 6.75 inches from the rim of the tank.

i am currently trying to find a lighting solution that will work well sitting so close to the top of the tank. I am assuming an LED would be the best bet. I have a 60 inch long 150g. I am leaning toward purchasing to kessil ap700 with the canopy mounts and hang them from the top. But i really have no idea what would be my best bet. My goal is to have either a mixed or a lps tank.

i know this isnt an ideal solution but please help with my best options. I will build a venting solution in this canopy but right now i am focused mostly on the lighting. Any help would be appreciated. I am determined to make this work.

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A. grandis

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Best bet is an regular ATI Sunpower T5 only fixture. It will last forever and will grow any coral you want. It's simplicity and efficiency will cover all your needs for light and you can plug and play. Get enough bulbs to cover the surface area of the tank and call it a great day. No need LEDs. You won't regret and all your corals will love you! The system below has a canopy and that was the reason why I needed to use the fixture so close to the water. Works without any problems. I placed a fan to help cool down the canopy just in case. Best solution!
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nereefpat

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Make sure that you measure the canopy and look at the specs for the light. I would be tempted to go with the 48" fixture with 6 bulbs, so there is wiggle room, and room to feed, and room for air movement, etc. A 4' T5 will cover a 5' tank no problem. That's what I would do, but it's up to you of course.
 

bobnicaragua

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I'm a fan of t5 LED hybrid lighting. I had 4 t5s and 4 Kessil a80s in a low 3 foot long canopy. The t5s put out enough heat that I needed to run a couple computer fans.
 

A. grandis

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Don't sacrifice number of bulbs to feed.
Cover every surface area of the tank with bulbs.
I had those pieces of wood and more than enough room to feed from the back of the canopy.
Leave room on the floor by the side of the tank/stand to place the fixture upwards during maintenance.
Te top of the canopy had holes where the fans of the fixture were, to be able to suck the air from the top and to cool the fixture.
That's the way I did!
 
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heidisdad2

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Thanks for
Don't sacrifice number of bulbs to feed.
Cover every surface area of the tank with bulbs.
I had those pieces of wood and more than enough room to feed from the back of the canopy.
Leave room on the floor by the side of the tank/stand to place the fixture upwards during maintenance.
Te top of the canopy had holes where the fans of the fixture were, to be able to suck the air from the top and to cool the fixture.
That's the way I did!
the feedback guys here is what I came up with. Ended up with the 60 inch atis 6 bulbs. I put an exhaust fan in and will do a seperate computer fan at a later date on the other end. I used brackets from amazon to screw in the sides of the canopy and hold it up underneath to allow me to open the canopy with lights not shining in my eyes and so it has a few inches of space from the top. I am pleased the way it came out so far. Appreciate all your help.
 

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llovasco

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Thanks for

the feedback guys here is what I came up with. Ended up with the 60 inch atis 6 bulbs. I put an exhaust fan in and will do a seperate computer fan at a later date on the other end. I used brackets from amazon to screw in the sides of the canopy and hold it up underneath to allow me to open the canopy with lights not shining in my eyes and so it has a few inches of space from the top. I am pleased the way it came out so far. Appreciate all your help.
Can you tell me where you found that exhaust fan that you used here?
 

rgulrich

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I think you'll also find that if you can push air across the surface of the bulbs you'll just about double their life expectancy. I've done that with fans on both my six and eight bulb four foot T5 HO fixtures - it pushes a lot of the heat off the bulbs, and the heat is one of the things that breaks down the phosphors in the tubes.
Cheers,
Ray :cool:
 

A. grandis

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the feedback guys here is what I came up with. Ended up with the 60 inch atis 6 bulbs. I put an exhaust fan in and will do a seperate computer fan at a later date on the other end. I used brackets from amazon to screw in the sides of the canopy and hold it up underneath to allow me to open the canopy with lights not shining in my eyes and so it has a few inches of space from the top. I am pleased the way it came out so far. Appreciate all your help.
You are very welcome! You can leave the top open during summer time, day hours, if temperature gets too uncomfortable and/or there is no AC in the house.
Now you should be able to concentrate on water chemistry, choosing your corals and fishes, general maintenance, etc... and you won't need to come here to ask anything about lighting, nor to solve any problems, like most LED threads.

T5s are the best and easiest reef light on the planet! It's qualities are above any LEDs and that's why people use them to help when they have trouble with their LEDs and things start to go south. More and more are realizing that. For those people that are suffering with LEDS... it's never too late. T5s are the best solution for our relatively smaller home tanks!! You won't regret!! Congratulations!
 

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