[ladydragon55]

After having the tank since April I have found two problems.
1. every time I want to clean it or add something to it I have to prop off or take off my lights.

2. Storage for all the "fishy" stuff.

So I have decided to make a cabinet over the top of the tank to match the bottom. This cabinet will house the light fixture so I can work on the tank without all the moving around, and at the same time have a large shelf for nets, dry food, etc. Here is a picture of the way it looks now and what I am thinking of doing.


This is what it looks like now



And this is what I want to add to it. The upper cabinet would be attached to the wall itself and be free of the tank. I will have the lights housed in the bottom of it, with vents on each side of the cabinet for air flow.

Here is my question, how high can I move the lights up above the tank without losing the light from the tank? Also will I need a fan inside the cabinet to keep the temp down. Please give me the wisdom that you all have.
thanks

[e_baer]

that is a really good idea!

i had the same problem, but i just got some peices or oak fomr my woodshop when i was in highschool and i cut them to size. then the lags of the light went on the blocks of wood. here is a pic.

[Lowej82]

Maybe use a cabinet, tear out the botom shelf, floor of cabinet and hang light from chain so that it can be raised and lowered when needed.
Im sure venalation would be key maybe use something like a blower out of a small furnace something like a camper furnace. and use that to pull air out of the cabinet.

[pogodzib]

Without having any glass/acrylic between the light and water, you usually would want the light to be about 4" over the water level if you have some type of lighting other than metal halides and 8" if you have MH. Any higher and you are sacrificing light. Lower and you run the risk of water splashing onto the bulbs and the bulb shattering. If you have a sheet of something between the bulb and water, you want then to be as low as possible.

[Lazy Iguana]

If the cabinet is going to be suspended above the tanks, you may not need any fans. Hot air rises. So just put some vent holes in the canopy. You can put some fans in the canopy, but I do not know if they will be needed. Unless you put in some MH lights.

You may want to get another light fixture, as the increased distance will result in less light. If you can, some mirrors glued to the inside of the canopy will reflect the light down into the tank. If this is not a possibility, then at least paint the inside of the thing white. Or line it with aluminum foil - shiny side up.

[pogodzib]

Mirrors actually reflect less light than flat white paint or aluminum. The reflection in virtually all mirror comes from something attached to the back side of a glass panel, which means that the light needs to pass all the way through the glass, get reflected, and then pass through the glass again to come back out and get directed downward. Flat white paint may not appear to reflect as much light because the light direction gets scattered, but there has been studies as to how much light gets reflected with various surfaces and white paint was much better than mirrors. I'll see if I can find one of the studies.