MH lighting and heat generated

[david_396]

New to the board. hello Currently have CF lighting. 45 gal tank 36" top. Want to build a 175 watt MH fixture. How does one address the extra heat that will be generated. Have a wood hood that has an added fan that comes on when the light cf light comes on. thanxs david

 

[greenmaji]

usually.. fans..

WELLCOME TO AQUARIUM ADVICE!!!!

 

[fishfreek]

Fans and vent slots usually work wonders.

I have a 12" tall canopy I built for my 250W MH fixture that fits over my 20 gal tank. I purchased a variable speed Icecap 120MM fan that is mounted to blow cool air into the canopy directly onto the bulb. Then hot air can excape either thru vent slots cut in the top of the canopy or out the back in the open space.

 

[garth7]

When I had my VHO bulbs on I had two fans I used. This helped out a bunch. I think it may have been a bit of over kill but It still seemed to help.

Doug

 

[Brenden]

A small fan should be enough to keep the heat from a 175w to a min. I run 2000w of MH and use 2- 12" fans. Does not heat the tank much. just the room

 

[david_396]

thanks for all the info. My lighting hood is about 6" above the water. I was wondering about heating of the water. More or bigger fans wouldn't be a problem. Just didn't want it to be too noisy. Looking at puting it together myself. I saw a few store bought hoods that use a very small (175w??) MH lamp. Has mounting terminals on each side of the lamp. kinda like the 300-500 w quarts shop light. all the lamp bases I've found so far are medium or mogal base. thanxs again db

 

[Brenden]

Has mounting terminals on each side of the lamp. kinda like the 300-500 w quarts shop light

You are referring to HQI MH fixtures.

 

[david_396]

Has mounting terminals on each side of the lamp. kinda like the 300-500 w quarts shop light

You are referring to HQI MH fixtures.

any benefit to this type of lamp. lees heat? smaller? Housing availability? Have ballests already. no reflector yet

 

[greenmaji]

the ballast will run other bulbs.. if its electronic it is able to be used on any bulb pretty much.. magnitic HQI ballasts can be used on the german and japanize bulbs other then the HQI's..
there advantage is just that there smaller.. one disadvantage is that they need a uv filtering glass of some sort.. mogal(big) bulbs have this in the glass of the bulb..