DIY Canopy/Metal Halide

First post here... Been reading a lot and people seem to have some good ideas and helpful hints, so here it goes.

I built a canopy for a 55 gallon and I've purchased two Reef Optix 2 reflectors with the mogul sockets preinstalled. I'm going to run 2 Ushio 14K 175 watt lights uder this hood. When I built the hood I thought the light would be about 8 to 9 inches off the top of the water, but it turns out that the socket hangs down further than I thought. So now it's actually about 6 to 7 inches off the water. The bulbs are the single ended (SE) type. I've been told I don't need any type of UV lens for these, is that correct? Also, is 6 to 7 inches high enough off the water, or am I looking at disaster here if any salt spray hits those bulbs. Do I need some sort of glass hood over the water? If so, what type?

Thanks!!

 

Welcome to 3reef. You should introduce yourself in the intro section.

PICS OF THE CANOPY PLEASE!!!!!!!

 

Welcome aboard! You are correct that you do not need UV filtering glass over the mogul based MH bulbs, as they have the outter shell that is UV tempered. I do not know if they will shatter upon water contact, but I always have a "better safe than sorry" approach to things, especially when it comes to electrical and water stuff. Now, 6 to 7 inches isn't much clearance above the water and with 350W of MH bulbs, you will see your water temps creep up pretty quickly into the 82ºF range or more. I'm not sure how you constructed your canopy, but you could add 1" square blocks to lift your canopy up higher, if you are using square blocking to rest the canopy on the tank lid. Come to think of it, I need to do that as well to my acrylic tank's canopy. But to prevent water splash, I would just non-tempered glass and hang it just below the bulbs to prevent water contact on the bulbs. I would also give a very light coat of vasaline on any of the exposed metal parts on your lighting system (like the mogul base socket) to prevent corrosion. Not using a hood over the water is a good thing, leaving it bare will help with the oxygen exchange in the tank. CO2 buildup is a bad thing and can create pH havoc i nthe tank.

 

Hello your most welcome here Most hoods being sold today come with acrylic to protect the bulbs from salt spray, and to protect the fish and coral from UV, clean the covers often to prevent salt build-up from keeping the light from penetrating properly...thanks

 

I am running a 200g with a canopy that I built and I made 3 sections of lexan 1/4 '' thick to cover the tank, I did this to cut down on evaporation, is this a bad thing , will co2 build up in tank with lexan over tank , also have a dual fan on top of canopy to expell heat in between lexan and canopy top !! My 3-175w ,14000 k bulbs are 10'' from top of tank hanging from ceiling !!!