I'm currently running a 90 gallon reef aquarium with power compacts and have never been thrilled with the quality of the light (4 - 65 watt white/blue bulbs and 1 - 96 watt white/blue.  Totat : 356 watts. 

I'm seriously considering upgrading to MH, but have a canapy/hood that I do not wish to get rid of.  Anyone out there have suggestions?  My understanding is that I will need to "retro-fit" the MH, but I'm not sure what that entails, how difficult it will be and exactly what MH are appropriate for the size of my tank. 

Anyone interested and/or willing to help me with this project?

Kimber

Does your hood have any fans built in currently? Air flow is going to be key. MH's get hot as it is but under a hood the heat will just compound. Air movement is going to be key to get that hot air out of the hood so it doesn't heat the water too much and to help keep your bulbs cooler.

Here is what I did for one customer. The top is wide open and allows heat out from the top

My own tank has a full canopy with a cooling fan at one end and vents across the top

I have 2-150 watt MH and 2-54 watt T-5's with cooling fan at one end there is no problem with the tank over heating

Fish E said :

Does your hood have any fans built in currently? Air flow is going to be key. MH's get hot as it is but under a hood the heat will just compound. Air movement is going to be key to get that hot air out of the hood so it doesn't heat the water too much and to help keep your bulbs cooler.

No fans.  That's a big part of what makes this potential project a bit tricky.  Looks like RJ has a couple of nice solutions, but I think they both may require a new canopy and I don't know how expensive that will be or how hard it will be to match my current stain.

KimberlyBrug said :

Fish E said :

Does your hood have any fans built in currently? Air flow is going to be key. MH's get hot as it is but under a hood the heat will just compound. Air movement is going to be key to get that hot air out of the hood so it doesn't heat the water too much and to help keep your bulbs cooler.

No fans.  That's a big part of what makes this potential project a bit tricky.  Looks like RJ has a couple of nice solutions, but I think they both may require a new canopy and I don't know how expensive that will be or how hard it will be to match my current stain.

Is it possible that we could modify your existing Canopy?

RJS8540 said :

KimberlyBrug said :

Fish E said :

Does your hood have any fans built in currently? Air flow is going to be key. MH's get hot as it is but under a hood the heat will just compound. Air movement is going to be key to get that hot air out of the hood so it doesn't heat the water too much and to help keep your bulbs cooler.

No fans.  That's a big part of what makes this potential project a bit tricky.  Looks like RJ has a couple of nice solutions, but I think they both may require a new canopy and I don't know how expensive that will be or how hard it will be to match my current stain.

Is it possible that we could modify your existing Canopy?

Sure.  That probably makes the most amount of sense, but I'd have to have a good plan - in terms of exactly what lights I'm going to intall.  I don't know enought about MH to know how many watts, what brand, etc. to use (in short, what my options are).  Also, I'd be concerned to have my canapy off my tank for very long because that's where my existing lights are mounted to.  In other words, I'd have to take it off and do the modifications in one day?

Once you decide what direction to take with your lighting and you have a cooling fan you should give me a call. At that time we might be able together and make the changes to your Canopy.

You should try to post a pic of your Canopy so we can see what changes may need to be done.

I really like my aqua medic 250 on my 30

Here is what I would suggest the aqua medic canopy light system

myself would run 2 150 watt 14k i like the blue but that can be your decision

keep them about 10 inches off the water surface if you are going to run mogul type

if running HQIs you will need some sort of glass to knock down UV from the bulb

but in your case i would consider retrofit which consists of reflector and base premade as far as ballast go i love my icecaps

just my 2cents

Rock

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~lighting_metal_halide_icecap_system_reflector.html

Really it all depends on what animals you want to keep Kimber, and also realizing that you have a very tall tank for the footprint.  If you're going to keep with the animal community you're using, 150 (HQI) or 175 (mogul or HQI) watt will do the trick. 

In a deep tank like that, if you plan on delving into some SPS, you're really going to need to think 250 unless you promise yourself to stick with Montipora digitata and capricornis like animals.  And really, if you were planning on doing all SPS in a tall tank like that I'd only think 400 watt would be appropriate (but I'd never start with a tall tank like a 90, my preference is for shorter, deeper (front to back) tanks).  My dream tank is 72 x 36 x 20 with a 4-5" sandbed  :)

The fans and circulation are a good idea regardless.  People make a huge correlative mistake about what is radiation and what is actually heat, and I guarantee watt for watt your floro's are putting off nearly as much oxygen sucking heat as any halide (without the benefit of the extra PAR!). 

Try it for yourself with halides some time.  Put your hand about 6-12" under a halide lamp.  You feel the "heat", right?  Now put a big ol' fan blowing in the direction away from you and the halide lamp.  Now what do you feel?  Now try the same experiment under a series of equal wattage florescents. 

Yeah, I've seen that look before  ;)

The "heat" you felt under the halides with the fan is what the coral animals and their symbionts are after.  It's not all within the range you want (some is IR) but a good portion of the spectrum has been engineered to be so in the first year or so of the lamp's use. 

If it were me and I wasn't going to budge on getting a different canopy, I'd talk to Rob.  Or if my wife didn't find it acceptable to just slap some 1x6's and 1x8's together and call it a canopy... I'd talk to Rob  :)

Todd