The plan: new lighting hood with surge and refugium

[Larry M]

Hey--I would like to get more light over both my 65 and 40 gallon reefs. Right now this is what I have:

65 gallon: 2 175w MH with 2 20w NO actinics.

40 gallon: 2) 95w VHO's with 2 20w NO actinics.

I would like to move the hood from the 65 to the 40, since it is the same length.

Then, I would like to build a new hood for the 65 that encompasses a bigger (10 gallon) refugium, a surge bucket, and new lighting, 2 250w MH with VHO Actinics.
Here is a rough diagram of the plan:

http://www.homestead.com/reefcentral/files/newhood.jpg

As you can see, the hood is 3 feet long X 18" tall. It will cover the entire top of the tank, I will mount vent fans in the end of this thing. The bottom 8" will hold the lighting. Hopefully I can squeeze some decent reflectors in there as well.

The upper 10" will hold the refugium and surge bucket/device.

Opinions? My main concern is whether the weight of this thing will be too much to just have it setting on the tank, or if I need to make other arrangements for mounting it.

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Larry M

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[Meethos]

Hi Larry:

I would definitely worry about having some extra weight on top of the tank. What about build some sort of stand to house the refugium and surge equipment? The other thing that I would worry about is developing a leak from either the refugium or surge equipment, since it will be above the MH lighting. As we all know the two do not mix very well.

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There is an art, or, rather a knack to flying
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Pick a nice day and try it.

[ReefDawg]

Larry, whats wrong with your present refrigum? the thin one that runs along the back? If I ever get my 120 set up I was planning on that kind of setup.(thanks for the idea) Were there any drawbacks? The only thing I could see that *might* be a problem was too much light.

[Larry M]

Meethos--Yeah, the water/electricity combo has me a little concerned too. Not to sure how to get around that one.

RD--The present one works fine, but in the new hood I would like to turn the MH lights so they are perpendicular to the tank (facing front to back) and use good reflectors. That means building a canopy that covers the entire top of the tank. The way my animals reacted to the addition of the second 175MH, I don't think too much light would be a problem.
Thanks for the input.

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Larry M

Northern Reef (http://www.homestead.com/larry_reef/index.html)