200g Plywood Build

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The inside of the tank is going to be about 78-77 inches long. the middle brace shouldn't be too wide. so a 36" fixture should work nicely
 
Etunes said:
OK, answer me this. Whats the difference between MH and T5s? Do they allow you to keep different corals or something? Are they stronger light?
Click to expand...
As far as I know, T5's have the same output but without the heat. I don;t know too much so don't take my word for it. :]
 
I like the way that sounds speakerman, but those are long enough that I wouldn't be able to put two fixtures on it. Do they come smaller?
 
two metal halide retro-fit 250w lights, one centered over each section of your tank.

You can get single T12 fluorescent fixtures for 15 bucks from lowes or home depot, and the actinic light for like 20 bucks online or 45 bucks from petsmart. So use two single fixtures, one light in front, one in back.

or you can do 72" actinics but that may prove to be a lot more costly and harder to get fixtures/lights
 
I think one giant fixture would cost more in bulbs in the long run. I'll check home depot for those. Thanks!
 
Hanging it would be an easy way to get it above the tank... but would a pendant fixture be large enough? The look awfully small.
 
I'm always impressed with reflectivity of lights. That's 15" and probably would light my tank extremely well. In looking at them I got hung up on the fact that it's only 15"
 
yeah regular lights are usually focused on getting the light down, but pendant MH are focused on getting the light down and out if that makes sense.
 
Yup. Makes complete sense. I'll look around home depot and my lfs and see what they think. Once I get done with the top (i'll probably end up jigging out two squares on the large piece.) Pendant lighting would actually be able to put light under the frame on the top, correct?
 
should be able too, but i dont really understand what it looks like so im guessing by what i understand you told us. would it be possible to post a picture of what the hood is going to look like?
 
This is as close as I can get. I found a picture of someone else's plywood build through google.

zak_plywood_glass.JPG

The top of a plywood tank typically has a thick brace in the middle to suppot the weight and pressure in the tank.

Rather than just nailing in a tiny piece of plywood, i'm going to use an entire sheet for extra stability. The sheet will have large sections cut out of it and form the same basic thing. For better explanation, I have a lovely piece of MS Paint artwork for you. Assume the two rectangles are even and the middle bar is centered. :)

img_1010759_1_f17ec057a1eea75e659cb9f310de4d29.jpg
 
I use a 14k 175w metal halide and 1 40w actinic on my 75g reef IP. Seems like plenty of light, although my cross brace is glass.

I may put 1 more 40w actinic, but after that I'm not changing the lights at all.
 
That's good to hear. I think two of those would be completely sufficient for my needs. I'll play with the idea. Seems like another trip to home depot is in my future :)
 
I figured with only an inch or two of a border, and a decent size frame, they should be large enough, yet that extra inch would improve strength more than just a cross beam
 
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