Looking at lighting.

[Marines_Wife]

Leaning towards the extendable 328 watter if I go MH. Question is how high off the tank will it need to be? I have limited space above the tank so if I need to go too high, I'll have to go T5.

How much space do you have?? I cant imagine it would need to be to high maybe 7 inches to 12 inches

 

[clancaster23]

I got 10" from tank top to ceiling.

 

[marcah]

I had a odyssea t-5 only thing with them is they dont have individual reflectors so you dont get alot of light down into the tank, so if you go with odyssea go with the M.H light..... these guys make a nice light call and talk to Jim he would give you a better deal on that light or one like it...if you want to go with t-5 Catalina Aquarium

 

[irensing]

it probably doesn't sit higher than 6-7" off the top of the tank. I can measure mine later if you want. there are fans built in to the unit so you are going to need a few inches clearance from the light to the ceiling.

 

[clancaster23]

Yeah, sure, anything will help.

 

[irensing]

it sits a little less than 6" from the top of the tank. you should be fine.

 

[clancaster23]

What I am worried about is the lack of space I will have above the light for cooling. I think the light is 3" thick so basically the light would be just below the ceiling and then I worry about it getting too hot from being basically right up against the ceiling. I may go T5 just for this reason.

 

[irensing]

the measurement I made was 5.8" to the top of the light fixture. This gives you at least 6" right? I think you'll be fine.

 

[irensing]

You can add a computer fan to blow the air across the top of the fixture also in a worse case scenario, but I don't think it will be neccesary.

 

[irensing]

I just read back that you have 10". I thought it was 12". So that gives you about 4" of clearance. It's a tough call. If I was getting new ligthts I'd want MH.