Nothing between CF and water, is this ok?

[brendan]

I'm in the process of building a new hood for my 35g freshwater and I was wondering if they is any risk of having my lights directly above the water, without any type of glass/plastic/eggcrate in between. My consern is that water may splash up onto the lights.

I was also thinking of mounting the balasts on the outside of the hood, somewhere near the back out of view, as those things can get pretty hot. Is this advisable?

TIA

 

[malkore]

Brendan,

It's fine to mount the ballasts outside the hood. i actually did taht on my 29gallon canopy i built, and on my 75gallon, the ballasts are in the cabinet (my ballast are pre-wired with plugs and 11 foot cords).

I'm not a fan of open top'd tanks. too much evaporation, and you could get condensation on the bulbs/connectors which could be a big problem, as well as the splashing.

Some people do it, but its not for me.

 

[Biggen]

Brendan,

I'm in the process of building a new hood for my 35g freshwater and I was wondering if they is any risk of having my lights directly above the water, without any type of glass/plastic/eggcrate in between. My consern is that water may splash up onto the lights.

You will find that quite a few people do exactly what you are doing. In fact, that is what I do. As long as the lights are mounted at least 6"-7" above the water's surface, splashing and condensation will never be a problem. I have my 250w MH and 2X55w PC's about 9" above my water line. Never had a problem.

I was also thinking of mounting the balasts on the outside of the hood, somewhere near the back out of view, as those things can get pretty hot. Is this advisable?

Shouldn't be a problem.

I understand Gregg's position about open top tanks, but if the lights are mounted high enough, there should never be a problem with them.

 

[brendan]

Thanks for the input, I'll get some pics up once I'm done with exams.