lighting upgrade with canopy

I have a 40 gallon aquarium with a hood. It came with 4 55W power compact bulbs, so it has 220 watts of lighting power.


Recently, the bulbs have started to fade off, and I don't want to replace them because the lighting fixture is very ghetto:





The reflectors are all rusted, the cheap plastic clips that held the lightbulbs in place have snapped off, and the wiring is very questionable. You can see the second fixture behind the one in front which is in similar condition.

I've been looking for fixtures to replace these with equal or greater power. The catch is that my aquarium has a hood, so very few lighting fixtures can go in it without overheating.

Basically, I have two choices:



The Current USA Sundial T5 will fit inside of my canopy, has integrated timers and moonlights. This is probably the best fit for my aquarium. The problem is that each bulb is 24W, giving 96W of light as opposed to the 220 I have now with power compacts. I've read on here that T5's with lower wattage are more powerful that power compacts with higher wattages. I like this fixture, but not if it means downgrading my lights.

The other alternative is to get another retrofit kit with power compact lights. There are a few on ebay that fit the bill, but I would like to avoid wiring messes as much as possible.

My tank has one candy cane and a bunch of waving hands. I would like to get more corals in the future like some LPS. Should I be considering the Sundial fixture, or should I go straight for another retrofit kit? I forgot to mention that the tank is about 18" deep.

 

Those T5's will put out more light then the PC's. I would hang MH's over the tank but that is just me.

 

I like MH's myself, but I can't afford the bulbs and chilling the tank.

 

How wide is the tank? You could probably go with a T5 setup or a metal halide retro fixture with a little modifying of the current hood.

 

I don't how much you would like it, but you could always just throw the hood out and hang a fixture over it, either T5 or whatever. You could get a nice fixture, such as a Tek, and hang it from the ceiling. That would allow you more room and prevent overheating if that is a concern.

 

I actually just got those same lights about a month ago. I JUST upgraded to the 36 in since i realized it would give each side of my tank more lighting. But the 30 in is great, although it does use 24 in bulbs. Fans work great doesnt make much noise, and i also have a canopy. Marineandreef.com has them on sale right now so check that out.

 

My first suggestion would be to just completely ditch the hood. There's many, many advantages to running open top.
And (though I dont know if the hood would make a huge difference) you can run a 150W MH on there without a chiller. I have a 150MH with 2X54W T5's on my tank which is also a 40 and I do not run a chiller, and my tank never goes above 80, even in the summer. Just my two cents