Canopy design, how far from lights should glass be?

[keqwow]

I am playing around with some ideas for my canopy design and I am trying to incorporate a piece of 1/4" tempered glass into the design for use as a combination splash shield as well as for use with DE MH lamps if I decide to go that route down the road. From what I've read, it seems that you want your lights between 6-8" off of the water...is that correct?? How far from the lights should I have the glass shield? This is basically the design that I am thinking of. It seems to allow me to do everything I want, I was just thinking of having the glass be slid in just above the front doors. That way the lights will sort of be in an enclosed compartment (again, thinking of DE MH down the road) when I want to open the front doors for tank feeding/maintenance.

[keqwow]

It is tough to estimate stuff without having all of the equipment in front of me, but the more I look at this design and the more I am guessing at heights on stuff, the more it looks like I won't really have enough room for front doors like that. Just playing with ideas....I'd love suggestions though.

[Geoff]

is that a pic of your canopy or one that you are thinking about copying?

why do you want to go with DE bulbs? is it the less power consumption of the ballasts?

G~

[keqwow]

I plan to go with SE bulbs at the moment, but I will be buying the HQI electronic ballast that will run either SE or DE bulbs. I am just leaving my options open for down the road. Although, all things considered...by the time I decide to upgrade to DE bulbs, I'd probably want to upgrade from a 55 to a 180 tank or something. That is not a picture of my canopy...just one that I thought about copying. I was also considering something along this design:

http://defcon200.bizland.com/aquariust/id12.html

[Geoff]

on DE bulbs the glass sheild is as close to the bulbs as possible. this cuts down on the absorbtion effect on the glass.

doors that are only 6-8 inches tall are not very helpfull. ti would just be better if the whole top and front lifted up at the same time. give you a much larger area to stick your hands and arms in.

G~