Anyone have experience mounting lights in a canopy?

I'm looking at buying some icecap pendants like this:

http://a1272.g.akamai.net/7/1272/1121/20051013221636/www.drsfostersmith.com/images/Categoryimages/normal/p_rd_21175_28414DZ-IO.jpg

and I was wondering if they are easy to put in a canopy???

My new tank should be delivered this weekend so I'm trying to think about how I will be putting this together!!

My BIL made me some durso standpipes and he is mailing those to me- at least I have a small amount of the plumbing figured out.

I'm crossing my fingers that the tank will have water in it within 6 months :roll:

im assuming you have measured the heights, widths, ect ect. Heating issues thought of since its inclosed?. You have many many options Q.

you can build a brace to contain the lights within the canopy. or if have the space, you can drill holding fixtures on the roof of the canopy to fasten the detachable light supports.

congrats on the new tank Q, what size are we talking, dimensions, not gal

What kind of lights are we talking about? You may want to look at retro fits and ditch the pendants. You could use the pendants but they are going to take up a bunch of room. Plus they may be difficult to work around when doing tank maintenance. Retro's may even be cheaper for you.

bb- I haven't exactly measured anything yet, but I certainly will before I place the order. The tank should be delivered tonite- I'm getting very excited!!! I saw it yesterday at the LFS and it looks great!!

The back of the canopy is open, however it is up against a wall and therefore not exactly "open." The good news is that I can cut up that wall (matt wouldn't be very happy) and then have great ventilation into the closet. We cool the house to 72*F (22C) which should help.

The tank is a 125g (473L) 72x18x22 or in cm 182.88x45.72x55.88. I will need 3 MH bulbs.

I can't see to find Icecap retrofits that are double ended. It seems pendants are the only option ??

Hello lights has some good options and affordable if you dont have to have icecap. Looks like decent stuff.

Hello lights has some good options and affordable if you dont have to have icecap. Looks like decent stuff.

Yeah this stuff does look like a good option.. I was looking at this one:

250W HL MH Retrofit Kit (HQI) (http://www.hellolights.com/25hlmhrekith.html)

Has anyone used this specific unit- any feedback would be appreciated.

The price just seems way too cheap, but I guess you never know. The writing in red kind of makes me wonder. It will be in a canopy, so avoiding moisture is impossible.

I'm planning on putting an acrylic shield accross the middle of my canopy to limit the condensation in the lighting so that's why I am goin with those cheap ones. I'll run a fan through there also anyway. Whether the equipment is made for it or not, water and electricity just weren't meant to get tegether.

you're right about that!

those pendant systems can be put in a canopy, but as noted they are large and not really meant for that. but you can do it.. :)

i agree with the recommendation for MH retro.. they are usually MUCH cheaper. if you go HQI you are going to have to make sure you get the right UV shielding in place so you dont fry the tank. any specific reason why you want DE vs SE bulbs? SE would be just as affective but cheaper.. and easier to acquire and mount in a canopy.. but thats JMHO

Retro is the way to go. You will have better air circulation and cooling power with a retro. A hood mounted in a canopy requires more room, add weight to the lift-top, and has less of a light spread........especially with HQI DE.

If it was me doing that same tank, I would go with SE torpedos.

Ok so maybe a SE w/ electronic ballast is better?

The link I posted above is a DE retrofit w/ electronic ballast. It comes with the UV shield.

Which will run cooler?

Thanks for the help, I am lighting illiterate!!

gwen_o_lyn,

I have recently purchased the 250watt HQI retro kit from HelloLights. I have not installed it yet, but here are some pictures of the unit. I personally prefer the electronic ballast over the magnetic because of the smaller footprint offered by the electronic ballast. The “cores” of magnetic ballast are big and heavy and do get hot, also they have to be shielded from the water. This to me means you almost have to locate them remote from the light, whereas the electronic ballast I can easily place within the canopy. Hope this helps.

Picture #1
Shot of the electronic ballast

Picture #2, 3, 4
Shots of the reflector

Picture #5
Shot of my Magnetic ballast core, capacitor, and ignitor stuffed inside a enclosure.

Picture #6
Side by side of the Magnetic and electronic ballast

FYI That HQI reflector housing is much smaller than the reflector I got with the 175W SE bulbs I just got from hellolights. Maybe not lengthwise but the open reflector might be almost twice as wide. But the light is awesome and it is better reflector IMO because it has the dip in the middle (forget what thats called) and multiple angles to really reflect all the light into the tank. I also got the cheap magnetic ballast and it is heavy but not in a housing so not all that big. I was planning to mount it on the rear of my canopy. But if I like the lights I think I may upgrade to electronic at some point. The magnetic hums a little but definitely not too loudly.

Electronic ballast will be more expensive, but cooler
the heat from a SE and DE should be similar (im not 100% on this)

that looks like a cool retro, my only concen is the reflectors, they dont look very efficient.. ie.. too square

The heat that is transferred to the water via lights is radiant heat. The heat of the ballast is conductive heat, and have limited infuence. Unless the ballasts are enclosed in the canopy or aquarium stand, ballasts have but limited infuence.

Retro is the way to go when you have a canopy. The pendants displayed look rather large and it looks like you will not be able to install anything else in the canopy once those pendants are installed. It took me weeks to decide on the lighting for my canopy. I also posed many questions regarding location of the ballast and originally intended to place them in the canopy. Heat, added weight and other issues convinced me to locate them elsewhere. IceCap delectronic ballast do not run hot. This allowed me to screw them onto the back of the stand. They can be purchased online for a reasonable price - see link below

Electronic Ballasts (http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/ltg_accessories-ballasts.asp)
Electronic Ballasts (http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/ltg_accessories-ballasts.asp).

You can purchase the retrokit from hellolights.com or championlighting. They are easy to put together and install.

Electronic Ballasts (http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/ltg_accessories-ballasts.asp)

I don't know why it won't allow me to post the website. I'll try again. It's coralreefecosystems dot com

Johnny- Thanks for posting those pics. I may be purchasing the same setup. Is it easy to install right inside a canopy? Anything special you had to do?

As far as reflectors aren't most DE setups contained within smaller reflectors? It seems the SE setups have the larger flatter reflector. Big bulb=bigger reflector.

Chase- your link works fine. Thanks for posting that. This website posts Link Titles, and not the actual URL, which can look confusing.

that looks like a cool retro, my only concen is the reflectors, they dont look very efficient.. ie.. too square

your prob right on this rob, a spidey sting reflector design would be angularly more efficent, then again, its a focal output for a smaller tank with a HQI bulb to boot, i know we're on a wicked course for perfection, but as hetro retro goes, it will do till a sutible chance for upgrade presents itself.

yes, verian, i agree.. and for a smaller tank i dont think i would care as much, but IIRC what Gwen is setting up is a 125, so i would want to make sure they are covering as much as they can

thats right, i forgot already Q's upgrading, got to stay clear of that wacky weed:unsure:

Well the reflector is actually pretty good. I had an open an open canopy just about 1 inches above the water level and lets just say my computer desk is near my tank so sunburn was eventually an issue :-). Hello lights retro kits are awesome. I'm actually ordering a 3rd for my 45 gallon cube setup. I already have 2 150 watt HQI Metal Halide up in a canopy.

I recently saw a tank with a rolling rack that pushed 4 PFO 24" parralel reflectors with very long VHO bulbs set into the ends of the reflector as well as 4 - 400 watt MH bllbs in the reflectors. The problem is i don't rememebr how it was set up.

I am awaiting delivery of a 156g Oceanic tank (60"l x 24.5"w x 25" h) and am trying to figure out a lighting set up for an oversized canopy. The canopy will actually have 62" l x 26" w x 16" h amount of space to work with.

I am definitely putting 2 Lumenarcs(big ones) in the canopy and am thinking about doing 2 - 400w 20k radiums or 20k EVC bulbs. Those I can set up in the canopy no problem even on a hanging system to lift whenver I need to get in the tank.

What I would really like to do is 2 - 400w 10K EVC bulbs and (2 t5 bulbs or 2 48"VHO's) set up on a rolling light rack for the canopy. I just don't know how to get this set up using these reflector's and supplemental bulbs. Any help would be much appreciated.

If getting the smaller lumenarcs would be the only way to accomplish this task I would be more than willing.

The big lumenarcs measure something like 19.5"x19.5" and the smaller ones measure I beleive 14.5"x14.5".

I like to keep my halides about 8-9" from the water. I would obviuosly want the t5's or VHO's about 4-6" if possible using these reflectors. It can be done with the PFO parralel's but I have only seen this with the VHO's.

Thanks for any help I can get... pictures would be awesome but diagram's and words will do...