30g lighting

I already have this on my aquarium right now

Perfecto Glass Aquarium Lighting Canopies

Can I put either of these fixtures over it because I really dont want to get rid of my glass lid.

Coralife Lunar Aqualight Compact Fluorescent Fixture 65 Watt coralife 24 inch lunar aqualight 24 lunar aqualight

Current USA Orbit 30 inch compact fluorescent reef aquarium light


Any other suggestions would be great as well

Thanks

 

Putting a light fixture directly on a glass lid seems like it could be a real hassle to me personally. IMO I would look at getting something that fits your tank so the legs can elevate it off the tank. You won't have to constantly be shuffling the lights around to open the lid. If it's a standard 30gallon tank it's 36" wide so I would look at fixtures in that range.

Also, what are you trying to keep in the tank? If it's a reef you might consider looking at T5 lighting, power compacts are pretty low end lights.

Is the tank up and running right now? Do you have a sump or some other way to get good gas exchange? With a glass lid you can hamper gas exchange which can lead to poor oxygen levels and a low PH because of too much CO2 in the water. That hinge on the lid might block a bunch of light as well which might make it tougher to keep some coral.

 

Well I have read that you need some where between 3-5 watts per gallon and those lights seem to do the job but I will look into it.

 

They would work..but in a few months you would want to upgrade..trust me! Power compacts do the job for softies and a few lps corals..but they just don't penetrate the water like T5's or halides. You would have very few limits with a good t5 setup..if i were you i would just go ahead and do that..and i would suggest losing the glass top too..all it is is another barrier for the light to travel through..and when it gets dirty with salt creep/etc it will really lower the amount of light that gets through...and also what screwtape mentioned about the gas exchange

 

The only thing is with losing the glass top is that im going to school soon and I really don't want huge amounts of evaporation.

 

will there be no one to there to top it off?