MH placement

etcetera · 09-12-2002, 02:52 PM

I haven't posted in a while. Hi everyone.

I have a 55 gallon acrylic with a support in the middle. Will the heat from a 175, or 250 MH warp or damage the support? I will make a new canopy so the bulb will be about 12" above the surface.

Thanks

Eric

TimBeR · 09-12-2002, 03:09 PM

I would think if you place one of those 5 dollar clip on fans in there you should be ok the only thing that you may find with placing a single MH bulb in the middle over the support beam is you will have the support beam shadow in your tank. but hey some corals require shaddy areas right.

etcetera · 09-12-2002, 04:09 PM

Yeah, I thought of the shadow. Maybe I will put in 2 175's. I really don't want to kill myself on the electric bill. The support beam is acrylic, so it is clear, but it still blocks some light.

A few years ago a friend at the LFS cut out the support and replaced it with a stainless cable with a turnbuckle to take up the tension.

Rick O · 09-12-2002, 05:16 PM

I would not put a MH directly over the brace. A tank that size needs two lamps anyway.

etcetera · 09-12-2002, 05:46 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I should have mentioned this earlier, but the tank is 36" wide. I think I might go with 2 lamps anyways. I'm thinking 175's. Does anyone think 250's might be too much?

TimBeR · 09-12-2002, 06:57 PM

Depends on what you plan on keeping in the tank but generaly speaking 250's should be fine

I went with 2x175's 12k sunburst myself with 2x96 pc attinics
Now granted this tank is not even filled with water yet but hopefully by this weekend it will be trying to finish up the plumbin tonight and tomorrow and picking up the rest of the SD sand I need either tomorrow or sat.

I think if you go with the 250's you should be fine though

etcetera · 09-12-2002, 07:37 PM

The more I think of it, the more I realise 2 x 250 will be too expesive to run. After the first 360 KW/h's per month I get penalized (California

), then there is another stage where yet a higher price rate kicks in. I'd pay about $.26 per KW/h to burn these lights. It already costs me about $30 a month, and 2 250's would add about another $45-50.

Not sure what to do, I guess I'll just live with softies