Will 250 watt metal halides placed approximately 4" away from the top of the tank melt the plastic brace? I know these lights get really hot and I have seen tanks that had the plastic brace melt
will a metal halide melt the plastic bracing
- Thread starter Lepisosteus
- Start date
Directly over the brace or off to the side? Off to the side you should be fine so long as you have some sort of ventilation if you are using a hood. Is this going over a reef or planted tank?
The way the tank is the center brace sits directly under one of the halides, this will be on a reef tank, I'll add a few fans into the canopy
I would be nervous about it being set up like that. Also, is there no way to move it one way or the other? With the light directly over the brace you are going to loose a ton of light and have a huge shadow, huge waste of a 250 watt MH.
I may be able to move it over in either direction a few inches. Do you got a reef setup? This fixture has 8x39 watt t5's and 3x250watt halides that should be enough light for most if not all LPs and spa corals correct? Tank is 150 gallons
What is the length of the fixture and the length of the tank? How many braces does the tank have? How deep is the tank? I know 150's come in a few different sizes. I imagine with three MH's in the fixture you are probably putting this over a 6' long tank? I would think they should be laid out so that there is space between each bulb for the braces.
Depending on the depth of the tank that does seem like a good amount of light for the tank, I would think you should be able to grow just about anything. I do not have any reef tanks, I've wanted to for several years but have never had the cash to plop down for one. So lots of knowledge on them, just no first hand experience
Depending on the depth of the tank that does seem like a good amount of light for the tank, I would think you should be able to grow just about anything. I do not have any reef tanks, I've wanted to for several years but have never had the cash to plop down for one. So lots of knowledge on them, just no first hand experience
What is the length of the fixture and the length of the tank? How many braces does the tank have? How deep is the tank? I know 150's come in a few different sizes. I imagine with three MH's in the fixture you are probably putting this over a 6' long tank? I would think they should be laid out so that there is space between each bulb for the braces.
Depending on the depth of the tank that does seem like a good amount of light for the tank, I would think you should be able to grow just about anything. I do not have any reef tanks, I've wanted to for several years but have never had the cash to plop down for one. So lots of knowledge on them, just no first hand experience
Its the 6ft 150 with 1 center brace. The fixture is also 72" long, tank is 27" deep. I'm with you but I found that buying used equipment from people that are getting out of the hobby will save you $$$$. I often look for people who are selling reefs equal to or bigger then mine as that's where the useful equipment is. Figuratively by the time I get everything together for the 150 I will spend 600$ which is good considering buying the same stuff new would be 2500$+. Selling all my freshwater gave me some spare cash as well
Ahh, now I see your problem. 72" fixture will have the middle bulb right over your support. How are you mounting the light over the tank? You said it will be 4" above the brace? Will you be using a canopy? Obviously you want the tank to look neat and clean, I imagine moving the fixture one way or the other will make it look pretty off.
This is the part where I'm not going to be as useful. Not sure what the best course of action would be from here. Unless you only use the two outside bulbs plus the T5's? Or maybe 4" will be enough height and it wont melt? I know that they get pretty hot however so I have my worries. You may want to ask over at Reef Central if you haven't already. MFK is great for the large fish and tanks but there dont seem to be many people with experience using MH's.
This is the part where I'm not going to be as useful. Not sure what the best course of action would be from here. Unless you only use the two outside bulbs plus the T5's? Or maybe 4" will be enough height and it wont melt? I know that they get pretty hot however so I have my worries. You may want to ask over at Reef Central if you haven't already. MFK is great for the large fish and tanks but there dont seem to be many people with experience using MH's.
Yea I should have said that to start. Ill have them hanging from the ceiling into a canopy, I could always raise it up a few inches, I will add cooling fans into the side of the canopy with good ventilation. I may just not run the middle halide but we will see.I feel for my lps tank the t5's and 2 halides will be enough. All I'm really going for in this tank is a few nice pieces of coral and some clownfish, maybe a few angels