one more halide question

[chris stevens]

So the plan is the Sunpod 2x 150HQI over a 55 Gallon tenecor acrylic (about 18" tall). Now i'm reading horror stories on Wetwebmedia about heating issues (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mhmarfaq5.htm). I knew that halide was heat generating, and I've pretty much resigned to the fact that I'll need to suspend the lamp atleast a foot or so over the tank, but is it going to overheat my tank significantly? I don't want to invest in a chiller and I want to keep the tank asthetically pleasing (i.e. no huge fans)....is halide a bad idea for me? the sunpod has a cooling fan, will this likely keep it under control? I'm running coralife lunar aqualights now (192w) which I know is respectable but I really want to keep a top notch reef and i've gotten the impression that MH is a key factor in that. I guess the question is : how much of a factor is overheating, if I keep the lamp suspended significantly over the tank, and how much will the intensity of the lamps be affected by hanging it a distance from the top of my tank?

 

[Brenden]

You will be fine. If your water starts to heat up to much get a personal fan from lowes/walmart etc and set it up so it will blow across the water. You will be surprised the difference it will make. (keep a eye on evaporation) I have 2000w of MH and 400w T5 lights. I have a 12" fan that runs nonstop and when the lights kick on a second 12" fan comes on.

 

[fishrfreinds]

if you have power filter you can place a PC fan over it blowing out. That will help to.