DIY canopy with MH and VHOs (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

i'm planning to build a canopy over a 46 gal bowfront to house 2 MH and some VHOs for actinics. i had a few questions about the project

1. when i buy a 36" VHO bulb, is the actual bulb exactly 36"? does that mean my canopy should be 39" long to make room for encaps etc.?

2. how high should my MH be off of the water? right now i have a MH pendant that is about 14" high, but i was wondering if i could get away with going a little higher to give me more room to work around.

3. what bulbs do you recommend for the lights? how many watts? what brand? what brand for endcaps?

4. any other suggestions before i get started?


thanks in advance

-abel

 

[AggieBrandon]

For 36" bulbs I would give at least 37.5 inches for room inside the canopy for them. For the vho bulbs I would use the URI brand because their actinics look the best in my opinion. For the endcaps I would just get the 3 piece german endcaps. How deep is the tank? If it is too deep placing the bulbs high above the water will not allow the light to penetrate as deep into the tank. I would also consider putting some cooling fans inside the canopy to keep the lights and tank cool.

Brandon

 

[Guest]

perfect timming abel i have this same tank and i am looking to do this same thing to it. my tank is about 18" from water surface to sandbed.
and like abel i need to know watts( i was thinking of a 250 mh and 2 actinic vhos)
thanks

 

[Guest]

rsflores, what side of town you from? maybe we can work on this project together...

 

[Guest]

stafford (sw houston) basicly 59and kirkwood area

 

[Guest]

well, i'm on the opposite side, but we can correspond here with pics and stuff. i plan on building the canopy today (Sat. Jan 3)

 

[Guest]

sounds good keep me up to date and i wanna see some pics.(so i can steal some ideas!! )
good luck