Couple of Lighting Questions

[Athena]

I have a 90g all-glass tank with the Modern stand and canopy- finally finished the 30g ecosystem setup- now on to the lighting - I am thinking of of using a icecap 430 to run two 95w vho bulbs in the front as well as the back - in the middle I would like to run two MH on both sides of the tank in between the vho- either (175 or 250) I like the pfo dual 175 or 250 due to the cost saving over the IceCap ballests - I am not sure if my Modern allglass canopy will be tall enough for the MH - the vho's will be no prob - has anyone had success with mounting MH in this canopy - it seems that everyone agrees that vertical MH should be at least 8 inches above the water- the canopy measures a little over 8 inches from the wood to the water - so with the bulb and reflector there would be no way to keep the bulb 8 inches off the water- I want the lighting system as "clean as possible" and keeping the stand and canopy matching - the picts of my set up can be seen at the all glass site and below

any help would be great!!

 

[Athena]

www.all-glass.com/products/stands/mseries_cherry.html

The link above didn't seem to work - thanks again and I look forward to your comments-

 

[Athena]

also if any have suggestions on what type of vho's they would use - (brand and k)

Thanks

 

[mariner]

Athena,
I have the exact same setup as you and I run the dual PFO 250's on my tank. I mounted the horizontal reflectors to the inside of the canopy by using a contractors grade wood glue to secure two small pieces of wood to the inside top. I then screwed the reflectors to this wood when it dried. It has been this way for about a year and no problems whatsoever. I cover the tank with glass covers that are cut to half of the width of each side(just to protect the bulbs from splash). The bulbs are actually only about 4-5 inches away from the water and my temp has never gone over 78 degrees. I use two 6 inch clip on fans from walmart(one on each side) blowing on low into the back of the canopy. I wish I had a digital camera so I could give you a clearer image but I don't. This setup works excellent. Any other questions just let me know.