Halide over center brace?

[jworth]

I had not thought about this until someone that came over mentioned it. my tank is a 125 with a center brace in the middle and I am fairly certain my light that comes in tomorrow has a centered halide. Will this melt the brace? It will be 8" over it I think.

Also, can I still use my glass lids with the halides?

 

[nonstophoops]

I had not thought about this until someone that came over mentioned it. my tank is a 125 with a center brace in the middle and I am fairly certain my light that comes in tomorrow has a centered halide. Will this melt the brace? It will be 8" over it I think.

Also, can I still use my glass lids with the halides?

At 8 inches it should not melt it, but watch closely.

I would not use glass tops with metal halides or any other lighting for corals for that matter, it reflects too much of the light. They also need to be constantly cleaned to make sure that minimal light is being blocked.

Depending on your livestock and water evaporation rate, you could build a wood canopy lined with something waterproof. That would keep both jumping fish, and evaporating water in the tank much better. Otherwise, if neither of those things are problems you could just leave the lights over the tank with no canopy.

 

[jworth]

Ttt

 

[FLESHY]

Uh oh. Someone here uses glass lids.

Maybe this is why my strawberry shortcake ORA is growing so slowly.

I do it, but its not fully covered, just immediately underneath the lights to keep creep from accumulating on the splash guard.

It will raise your tank temps, be ready.

125g, 72" fixtures oftentimes place a lamp over the brace, depending on what style of tank you have.

This is okay, but watch your brace, obviously light underneath it will not be as good as other places in the tank.

 

[nonstophoops]

Uh oh. Someone here uses glass lids.

Maybe this is why my strawberry shortcake ORA is growing so slowly.

I do it, but its not fully covered, just immediately underneath the lights to keep creep from accumulating on the splash guard.

It will raise your tank temps, be ready.

125g, 72" fixtures oftentimes place a lamp over the brace, depending on what style of tank you have.

This is okay, but watch your brace, obviously light underneath it will not be as good as other places in the tank.

Forgot to mention that as a con to taking the glass tops off. Salt Creep.

Again depending on your setup and water flow, you will most likely need to clean the light covers at least once a week if you do not have glass tops(I guess you need to do this to the glass tops too otherwise). You want to minimize the changes in light penetration that come with the salt blocking the light. If you wait a long time to clean the glass you can actually shock corals by the change in intensity, so keep that in mind.

 

[FLESHY]

At least once a week...plus some of the deposits are a ^&$^# to get off.

I still have some deposits on my guards that shouldnt be there, from a time when I was stupid enough to not do anything about it.

My tank isnt completely covered. I just use the back half of the 75g standard canopies. Nothing else.

Centered underneath the lamp.

 

[jworth]

Ok I will build a canopy after I get everything up and running because my water evaporates quick. I may use the back section of lids to keep salt off the light.

Maybe I could put something over the brace to absorb the heat or is it really a non issue

 

[FLESHY]

I dunno...

A lot of people run fixtures and dont have issues. I would just watch it. I also dont know what you could put down there to absorb light.

 

[jworth]

I dunno...

A lot of people run fixtures and dont have issues. I would just watch it. I also dont know what you could put down there to absorb light.

I will just run it on a day when I will be home and see if the plastic gets too warm. I will need some corals soon though!

 

[FLESHY]

Ill be here when that day comes friend.