HQI 250W light inputs. (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

I am currently planning to get MH 250 HQI DE but I am afraid of the heat. I appreciated if you can give me some inputs about the lighting.

If my canopy have an open top and I leave my light about 10 to 12 in. from the water.

How is the heat without chiller? I am planning to have 2 fans 1 blow in one blow out.

How will it effect the temperature in the room (living room)?

 

[AggieBrandon]

if you are going to have an open top why not have both fans blowing into the canopy...the heated air should rise up away from the water....I think you will be able to get away without using a chiller but it also depends on how cool you keep your house, water volume, etc.

Brandon

 

[Guest]

I have 120G tanks and my house temperatre is setting at 80.

 

[Guest]

I used to have 2x250w HQI's over my tank hung as pendants, with the top completely open so there was good airflow. I recently switched over to 4x110w VHO mounted in a canopy, no fans (yet) for airflow. When I made the switch, my chiller ran just as much with the VHO's in the closed canopy as it did with the MH pendants. IOW, the amount of heat in each of these situations is about the same.

The bigger factor for me was the hot Velocity pumps I was running. I switched them out for cooler pumps and now my chiller runs 1-2 times a day, towards the end of the day. I'm sure if I added a fan to the canopy, I could eliminate the need for the chiller completely.

So in a nutshell, if you don't have anything else (like pumps and powerheads) adding a lot of heat to your water, you can definitely do MH lights without a chiller.

PS - I agree with Brandon about having both fans blowing in. From everything I have read, that is more efficient. Also, fans that are sucking air out of the canopy tend not to last very long because of the salty air being sucked through them.