What else? A Lighting Question.

[Lark]

Just what everyone around here loves, yet another lighting question from a newbie. Well, thanks for your patience in advance, and here goes.

I think I've decided that I want to go with 2x110w VHOs and 2x175w MHs. I have a 10 inch tall canopy, and need to install the lights in the canopy. (Wife insists that everything must fit in the canopy.) So I guess retro is the only option.. The question is what would you recommend for this set up and where would you buy it? I'm thinking about going with the smaller icecap ballast to run the two VHOs, so that I can use the solar dimmer that icecap recommends. But that's really starting to get up in price and then I'm not sure what to do for the MHs. Anyway, if anyone has a similar set up and can advise, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Tim Reed]

Well, I'm a little new myself so I'm not tired of talking about it. What are the dimensions of the tank? Could you show us the canopy? At first thought I would say no to the MH because I just built a canopy at 15" and I think it is just big enough. If you could send some pictures it would help. How does one post pictures here?

 

[Lark]

Even if I knew how to display pictures, I couldn't post one, because the tank and canopy won't be delivered for another few weeks.

Anyway, the Canopy is about 11 inches with a one inch lip, so it will sit about 10 inches above the top of the tank and about 11 to 11.5 inches above the water. I think with many set ups, that would give me at least 5-6 inches above the water. There seems to be a debate on the board about whether that's enough for MH, although there seem to be folks here that have made similar situations work.