diy lighting and canopy

[nealplumbing]

I just purchased two 250 watt mh ballast and 3 mogul sockets today along with four t8 fixtures with ballast. I am wonedering if anyone has plans and what kind of materials they used for reflectors and stuff. I am trying to build just something for the lights that can be mounted in a canopy later when I build my acrylic tank. I was thinking some kinda of metal box that would house all the lights. But i Dont know what kinda of metal to use that the salt water wont corrode. Any help would be helpful thanks Jim

[Geoff]

i made my canopy out of pine. with metal you will need to get it powder coated or primed and painted well in order to keep it from corroding. even most grades of stainless will eventually rust when exposed to SW.

as for reflectors i use the reflectors inside my URI VHO bulbs. and the MH have some fairly poor reflectors that i got when i purchased them for DIY purposes. i would look into spiderlight reflectors. if it were not for the MH's i would have suggested monokote. the material model airplanes are coated in. the silver one is aluminum coated mylar, extremely reflective. the MH's heat would soften the adhesive.

hth,

G~

[nealplumbing]

Do you think the ss would corrode if I put a glass or acrylic lens on the bottom of the fixture. Do you think I would need reflectors if I polished the stainless? Thanks Jim

[wanareef]

These are what I am using over my tank http://www.reeffanatic.com/cgi-bin/m...?item=MHBL_SLK I was going to use roof flashing and polish that up but I'm too lazy for that. Plus you'll need a bracket to mount the socket to and this comes with it and you can sell the extra sockets.

My hood is made from 1x2's covered in 1/4" ply and painted. There are a lot of ways to accomplish the same goal. What kind of lights are the T-8's, actinic? You will most likely need a reflector for these as I don't think these are URI's with the built in reflectors.

hth

[Geoff]

unless you are running HQI bulbs i do not suggest putting glass between the bulbs and the water. you will find you need to clean the glass every day to keep the salt spray and creep from blocking the light. some people just paint the inside of their canopies white to act as a reflector. whether or not you need one is up to you. it will help to get more light down through the tank. polished stainless is better than nothing.

G~