Lighting question- need some help.

[overflow]

I'm setting up my first nano reef (15 gallon? 20"lenth). Using the stock plastic canopy (Regent). I can fit 2x13 watt retro kit, but is this enough (I may add acro in the future)? Can I fit 2x36 watt in there? What about heat with 2x36 watt lighting in that canopy. Does anyone have experiance with possibly adding two 2"fans on the top (one in and one out)? Any suggestions would be greatly appreicated.

[lizbeth]

Using the stock canopy is going to limit what you can use. You would just have to do some careful measuring to see what will fit. 2x13 is not enough light, I run 3x13 on my 5 gallon. I suggest you build or buy a full canopy and put the 2x36 and some fans in it. Fit it in so you can add more lights in later if you wish.

[kryptonite]

Hey, I have a 15g tall that is 20in long. I just went to home depot and got some wood, made a little canopy. I got only one fan for it blowing in. This is best because if you have a fan blowing out it will pull out the salty air and rust your fan. Just be sure to have an opening somewhere else for the air to exit. I keep my room temp about 76 degrees and this amt. of air circulation works great. It keeps my tank at about 80-81 degrees all the time. Just turn off your fan at night so that you won't have any unneeded evaporation. My tank is 18in high x 20in long x 10 in deep. You could fit 4 18in vho's or I think even 4 18in 36w pc's in there. I currently have 2 40w vho's, 1 36w pc, and a 15w no. This lighting works great for softies and looks beautiful too. To build the canopy I just simply put one 1 x 6 board on the front, sides and back. On the insides of the side boards I screwed in a 1 x 2 to make the canopy catch on the top of the tank so it wouldn't slide down (by positioning these correctly you can determine how high your lights will be off the water surface). Then I put one 1 x 6 flat on the top in back. And one more for the front. I screwed the back one into the ones on the sides and connected it to the top front board with two hinges. Let the boards hang over a inch or two for looks and so you can raise the front top board. Cut out a portion of the back wall on the canopy so that you can install a hang on filter or a back pack skimmer and make it a little big so the air from your fan can escape through the same hole (killing two birds with one stone so to speak). Then simply screw your lights to the underside of the top boards (you should have room for 2 lights on each top board). Run the wires out the exhaust hole right next to the filter or skimmer. When you want to access the tank just simply lift the front top board and your in.

Good Luck
Nate

[overflow]

Thanks for the help! I did alittle searching and here's what I found...I currently have one NO flor. 15watt (18") actinic bulb. There is a new bulb "50/50" 10k + act 03 in a 96 watt pc quad. It's length is 16-3/4"x 4-1/2 (18-1/4" with socket). I'll fit the thing inside the stock Regent canopy with CPU fans. This will do it for the lighting, 4.8 watts/ gallon!