Raise lighting to solve heat issues

[Poppy828]

Evening everyone. I have a 46G bow front and am setting a reef tank up as we speak. I am in need of a way to raise the corallife lighting hood to help dissipate some heat from the tank. I am not sure of a safe way to do this. I have 3 kitties that are more than curious as to what the tank holds. Especially now that I have introduced 4 fish into the tank. I would feel a lot safer with a top on the tank of course, but with the top on the tank, the heat rises above 83. With the top off, it maintains a constant 82 during the day. I would like the tank at about 80-81. Any suggestions on this would be very appreciative. Thank you in advance for your time.

Todd

[Jason McKenzie]

Coralife makes brackets that clip on the side of the lights and then to the tank. That would resolve the need for the glass over the tank. Now to keep the kitties out you could pick up some cheep egg create from HD, its the white check stuff used for ceiling lighting. It will allow air through while keeping the cats dry

J

[JohnO]

[quote author=Jason McKenzie link=board=lighting;num=1092107259;start=0#1 date=08/09/04 at 21:24:34]Coralife makes brackets that clip on the side of the lights and then to the tank. *That would resolve the need for the glass over the tank. *Now to keep the kitties out you could pick up some cheep egg create from HD, its the white check stuff used for ceiling lighting. *It will allow air through while keeping the cats dry

J[/quote]

[smiley=2thumbsup.gif] [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

John

[tlalond]

the thing about keeping the cats dry was to funny thanks for the laugh.

[Poppy828]

Thank you for the insight Jason. I appreciate it. The heating issue is solved thus far. I purchased the legs for the lights and put a fan over the sump. Temp has been a constant 77 for 2 days now. No top yet though. So far the kitties have not paid much attention to the tank. Not sure if the noise is scaring them from the overflow or what. They look at the tank and that's it. But thank you. Should I switch between the two light sources though. Right now I turn on the blue actinic in the morning around 8ish. I have a timer for the 10,000K lights to come on at 10-4 then off with the blues back on until 6 then the white come on for 2 hours and then done for the day. Is this bad for the reef? Should I leave them on for a given amount of time each day instead of switching?

[Jason McKenzie]

Glad to hear your heat issues are resolved. My Cat pays no attention to the tank as well. As for your photo period. I have my actinics come on at 8am and off at 10pm my main lights 10000K MH are on at 10:00am and off at 9:00pm. I'm not 100% sure if that's the best but it's how I have them.

In an other thread you talked about top off water. No salt should be in your top off water as salt does not evap. It is actually the act of evap that is cooling your tank. I would also try and move away from Tap water for your top up water. I use an RO/DI unit to purify my water but there are cheaper water systems you can use.
[img]http://www.jlaquatics.com/images/rounits/twp.jpg
[/img]
I've heard this one is quite good and does not cost a lot.

Image from J&L Aquatics web site (jlaquatics.com)

J

[Poppy828]

Thank you Jason. I was worried about using straight tap water. So far my levels have been fine. I did check them again this morning. But I think some type of filtering would be better. I will look into the link you provided. Thank you. I appreciate all the help I can get. I want to be succesful at this.

Poppy

[Midnight_Madman]

Is there any advantage to having no top on the tank.. or the grid that lets air out? I have a glass canopy and I thought it was better because it slowed down evaporation and it keeps fish from jummping out.

[JohnO]

There are two reasons for not having a glass top or cover glass.
Cover glass can add to high temperature problems. It also inhibits gas exchange.

John :-)