2x250w 10000k halide on my 65g how far off water....

[marinoob]

he is my predicament i have a 65g high saltwater tank and i have a wood canopy from thatfishplace.com well not from the website since i live 20min away from the store..... but i tihnk i have about 1' from the top of the hood to the water will that be to close for 2x 250w? i can get 2x 175w for $25 cheaper what would you recommend? will i have crazy evaporation? i have 2x65w pc lights in the hood now and i replace about 3gallons of water every 4-5 days and my tank runs at about 81.5 am i gunna need a chiller and a auto topoff and all that good stuff? or will some stretegically placed fans in the hood be fine? is going metal halide gunna break me? my dad is buying the halide kit for me for birthday/christmas but am i gunna be able to run it safely? or is it gunna cost me another couple hundred to use the good lighting?

thanks in advance for the help guys

[MetalIsAwsome6]

Have the lights at least a foot off the water and yeah with the halides you will have pretty good evaporation so just get an auto top off and get a 32 gallon trashcan as a reservoir so it will last for a long time

[marinoob]

are we talking like 3g/day evap? would i be better off with the 175w? i want to do corals (after i do more research what would 175w x 2 limit me to in my 65high? and what would 250w x 2 limit me to? does the 175w put off much less heat? or is it not that much of a difference? should i just pay the extra $25 and get the 250w? i am so flustered. fish tanks can make a person go crazy omg i have lost my mind since my dad told me he would buy it for me....... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


what if i added to the hood and made it like 1'6"- 2' off the water would that be safer? this tank is in my fiances mothers house and i cant just setup a 32g trashcan lol i have to keep my barrels of water in the basement

[tazman71]

I also have a 65 with an enclosed canopy. It has 2 250 halides and 2 75 watt VHO. Heat can be an issue if the room temp is high, but I have 2 large 5" fans in the hood that move a lot of air. One pointing in, and one pulling it out. I evaporate close to 2-2.5 gallons per day.

[marinoob]

*BUMP* BEfore i leave work

[Thomalop]

I have a 75 gallon tank with 2 400 watt metal halides. I have a enclosed wood canopy. The lights are only 4" to 5" off the water.

I bought three 4" fans from Radio Shack and the temp consistently stays at 81 degrees.

The fans were a pain to position but I finally got it right.

Room stays at 70 degrees.

[marinoob]

i have 2 coralife digital thermometers one on my fresh a one on my salt and the one on my saltwater tank consistantly reads around 82 degrees when lites on and about 81 when there off. well i was sitting there with just the actinics on and all the room lights were off and i noticed the heater light was on and i have the heater set to not let the water get below 77degrees well it made me start to think man my heater must be off (came with the used tank) because my "fancy pancy" digital thermometer says its 82 degrees so i turned the thermometer down to 75 and went down to my bedroom and like 2-3 hours later i came back up to check the new temp and it had dropped 2 degrees i was so happy because my 2 x 250w halides are on there way and i was worried about heat and i had come to the conclusion that the heater was "making all this heat" well i went down stairs to go to bed and i was laying there and i tend to overthink things (i design fire protection sprinkler systems for a living) then it finally popped in my head "what if....." hmm i was thinking what if my thermometer wasnt acurate what if it was really 77 in the tank and i just turned it down to 75 gosh everything will be dead when i wake up because the water might be too cold. i went and gtrabbed the digital thermometer off my freshwater tank and ran upstairs and put it in and it read 75 when my other one read 80 and the heater light was coming on and off at 75 so it must be right around 75. im so glad i noticed this


would 75 be stressful for the fish? what is to low for saltwater fish? and what is to high?

I am picking up a $2 glass thermometer from the fish store on my way home it seems like the only thing i can trust.

[Thomalop]

The optimum temperature range would be 78-82.

When I initially got my two 400 watt MH's on my 75, I woke up in the morning and the temp had rose to 90 degrees. Everything survived (even the fish). Eventually I have stabilized the temp at 81 degrees.