DIY Canopy Lighting question

Right now, my 4x65w PC lights are sitting directly on top of my tank (with glass panes underneath). I wanted to make a canopy (in fact came up with the design and all) and then realized that my lights would have to be up 4 or 5 inches above the tank in the canopy. I am wondering, will that affect the lighting too much to move them off that far if they are in the canopy? Should I put some kind of reflective material on the inside of the canopy to keep the light intensity? Was planning on adding an old flourescent fixture I had too, with a couple new 50/50 bulbs just to give it a little extra light. Thoughts?

 

no need for the flour bulbs they dont work the Compacts i would recommend a reflector but if you are getting into corals you may want a step up like VHO's or even a metal hal bulbs

 

Don't have the money to upgrade the lights right now (or in the near future). Why wouldn't the flourescents work?

 

Reflectors are a good idea to maximize the amount of light your getting in your tank. Do you have a fish only tank, maybe some live rock? Any anemones or corals in there? If you want to keep corals, the lighting is probably insufficient. If not, your lights are just fine.

Since you haven't purchase / built your canopy yet (good) you may want to rethink you design. You should be able to put your lights anywhere you want in your canopy. It should only be a matter of if they will fit in there or not.

I don't mean to sound like I KNOW for sure what I said about the lighting comments. Please correct me if I'm wrong. As for the canopy, I'll stand firm on that comment