DIY Canopy

[titoav15]

Hey Guys,
I have been debating to either make my own canopy or buy one, well as I was about to buy one I realized because of my t5 light it would not fit, so I had to make one. Check out how its coming along. Its about 80% done, still need doors and paint or stain it. Its a shame my stand is black, are there any other colors I can stain with (other than black)
that would match? I will update pics once I am done with all this!
P.S. This is my frist DIY projects and I am no carpenter

 

[hereiam22]

I wouldn't worry too much about the color contrast of the stand and the canopy, but if you want something that will contrast nicely I'd go for a lighter stain, something to keep it just a bit darker than the natural color of the wood.

It won't make the black stand out a lot like having darker wood stain would (imo) because you'll be able to tell instead of having to look close and realize it isn't all the same color.

 

[titoav15]

my light sits on the very top, I have a 48" wave point t5ho, so there is a gap of about 15" there is also a glass cover on the top of the aquarium, do you think the light is too high?!? when I put it on top just to give it a try the aquarium became much dimmer (obviously), but is that a concern for a reef tank? The light used to be on the legs that it came with, witch ofset the light from the top by like 2". Is this bad or false alarm? Any suggestions?

 

[ccCapt]

Nice carpentry work. That looks aweful tall tho for T5 lighting, but looks like a nice height if you used metal halides. For T5 lighting, you will get the best results with the bulbs about 6" above the water.

 

[titoav15]

I talked to my lfs and they said that I can return the t5 system So, my question is what do recomend I use as my lighting in there? do MH make noise? I would like something reasonably priced aswell as quite because the aquarium is in the bedroom. My budget is around $400 for lighting. For MH lights I was thinking of getting two clip on onse... what do you think?

 

[titoav15]

What do you think of lumen max 2? Any other suggestions?
Sunlight Supply Lumen Max 2 Single Ended Mogul Base Reflector Images

 

[ccCapt]

That is a good reflector/pendant, however, I would recommend this 1 which is even better and would work great inside your canopy.
LumenMax ELITE Mogul Base SINGLE ENDED Reflector by Sunlight Supply - AquaCave

Here's a great article on MH reflector performance.
Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Product Review: Analyzing Reflectors: Lumenbrite III, Lumenmax Elite, Lumenmax, and Lumenarc III

 

[titoav15]

what kind of ballast would you recommend? Also about the bulb, what would be a good one, I would like a light blue color to it.

 

[titoav15]

thanks everyone for replies and a special thanks to ccCapt for helping me with all this

 

[DubJ]

Really? Why would the light be better at 6 inches?

 

[ccCapt]

what kind of ballast would you recommend? Also about the bulb, what would be a good one, I would like a light blue color to it.

What size tank do you have and how tall is it?
I run 175w Iwasaki 15k bulbs with magnetic ballasts over my 125. The only issue I have is with 175w bulbs, there isn't a big choice in high PAR bulbs. The bulbs I use are high a PAR (higher than many 250w bulbs), very white with a slight hint of blue. If you like a bluer look, you probably won't like these bulbs.
For a bigger selection of bulbs, I would go with 250w and an electronic ballast (IceCap and ARO are good, but any brand is fine...there is very little difference in performance between electronic ballasts). Radium and XM 20k are popular "blue looking" bulbs. The Blueline SPS 10k bulb looks like it has a nice white/blue color and has good PAR.

This may help. It lists the PAR (PPFD - Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) and CCT (Correlated Color Temp) which is the actual K temp of the bulbs as tested.
250w MH bulb performance

Really? Why would the light be better at 6 inches?

You get better light penetration with the bulbs closer to the water. The reason MH bulbs need to be higher up is they are a point source light and a reflector is needed to spread the light around. If they were mounted closer to the water you would get a spot light affect where that doesn't happen with T5HO bulbs because they cover the lenght of the tank.

 

[titoav15]

what is the differnce between single or double ended MH? Also what is HQI? I found a bulb that I would want its a ushio 20000k but it only comes double ended. Can you recomend something that would go with it? Or is it a mistake to get double ended MH. Also I dont see any ballasts that are 150 watts I found the lowest is 250 watts. Also what is the difference between an electric ballast and a magnetic?

 

[ccCapt]

There is no difference between a single ended (SE) bulb and double ended (DE) bulb as far as performance or type of ballast needed. The difference is the type of socket needed for the bulb.

HQI is a European standard bulb that requires either a pulse start magnetic ballast or an electronic ballast. Most HQI bulbs will not fire on a standard probe start magnetic ballast.

Most 175w ballasts will also fire 150w bulbs. For example, this ARO electronic ballast will fire 150's or 175's.

There isn't a whole lot of difference between magnetic and electronic ballasts, but magnetic ballasts are usually cheaper. It mainly depends on the bulb itself. Some bulbs get better PAR with electronic ballasts while others can have better PAR with a magnetic ballast.

 

[titoav15]

thank you very much ccCapt! You are make this project so much easer! So, here is what I want to do as a package: Let me know what you think
One more thing, how much of a heat issue will this be once I throw it in my canopy? Its an open back so, u can put some fans in, but will it cause problems in summer? the will be 12-14" away from the glass top. I have a t5ho and it raised my tank to 84 with out fans or anything and it was sitting 2" away from the glass top. For the most part my tank stays at 77-80 range night and day.
Light:
Sunlight Supply Lumen Max 3 Double Ended HQI Reflector Reviews
Ballast:
ARO Electronic Ballast-150/175W MH - 61001
Bulb:
Buy 150W Ushio Metal Halide Blue HQI Double Ended 20K Aquarium Bulbs Here!
or
20000K Metal Halide Bulb - XM, Double-Ended Reviews

 

[ccCapt]

I really would pass on the 150w DE bulbs, especially the 20k bulbs which have horrible PAR. The XM 20k only puts out 26 PPFD (my 175w bulbs put out 86 PPFD). I don't see any testing done on the Ushio 20k, but the Ushio 10K is only 60 PPFD and 10k bulbs generally have alot more PAR than a 20k's.

This is what I would suggest for your tank.
Lumenarc Mini reflectors (SE) - I have these over my system.
Vertex 175W Metal Halide Electronic Ballast
For bulbs, if you want a whiter look, Iwasaki 15k (86 PPFD) or for a blue look XM 20k (50 PPFD).

As far as heat, I run 3 175w bulbs and 2 160w VHO SuperActinics over my system. I have 2 fans mounted on the sides of the canopy and they come on with the lights. I also have a fan in the back of the tank and 1 over my sump which are controlled by my Ranco 2 stage temp controller. When the tank temp hits 80, the controller turns on the fans on the back of the tank and over the sump. The only time my water temp goes over 82 is in the summer when it's around 85 inside the house...but when it's that hot, the AC is on and the tank temp stays at 80.

Here's my canopy with the lighting and fans. The color is pretty accurate.

 

[lancer22386]

looks good

 

[titoav15]

Yeah all the options look good! I would like to know all my options and therefore there is one other thing that I want to throw out on the table:
48" Tek Light: (the only reason why this one is 48" while the other is 36" is beacuse I only have 47.8" to spare from wall to wall and this one is 47" long while other tek light is 48")
Tek Light ELITE 48" 4 x 54W T5 High Output Air Cooled Light Fixture by Sunlight Supply - AquaCave

36" Tek Light:
Sunlight Supply Tek Light High Output Fluorescent Lighting Fixtures

I like these lights because I can suspend them down to 6" like you(ccCapt) said.
Also would the 36" light length be sufficient for my 55 gallon tank?
My main concern with MH is the electric bill.

 

[ccCapt]

T5HO lighting will work fine as long as you know your limitations with the fixture you choose. With the 4 bulb fixtures, you may be pushing it if you want to keep SPS corals (they would definitely need to be at the top). LPS and softies would be fine under that lighting.

I would avoid a 36" fixture. Get the 1 that fits in the space you have.

As far as electricity, 250w of metal halide uses the same electricity as 250w of T5, 250w of VHO or 250w of regular fluorescent.

 

[sgc0286]

You could keep the T5HO that you have and screw in a couple of hooks to the top of your canopy and hang the lights until the light is around 6 inches above the water.