thank you for the input that places a better perspective for me haahah. what would you suggest?

Idk maybe thick lexan wouldn't bow in. But if ur looking for something else other than lexan to prevent evap I would probably go with glass. I'm probably gonna go with some kinda screen mesh type deal for me tank(s) but I have an ato.

Petsmart carries fairly cheap glass lids. Don't go with lexan unless its really thick. Lexan will also discolor a lot faster, and be harder to clean

For the lights, check out the 24" fixtures from this place. They have decent quality fixtures for cheap, and their shipping is relatively fast. They have everything from T5 fixtures, and T5/Halide combos. I personally have the 150W halide with T5 combo and it has been a fantastic light.

www.aquatraders.com

Thanks , i checked it out and im pretty sold on this light 24" 298W Metal Halide System Extendable Series.

Yeah thats the one I had on my 10G nano, and it works great. I just replaced the stock Oddysea bulb with a 14K 150W Phoenix bulb and it kicks arse. I use it now for my frag tank.

Awesome, well sounds like ima get that then hahaha thanks again for the site address and soon in about a months time tank pictures should be up :)

I wouldn't be putting a glass lid on a 15g tank with this fixture unless you have it mounted up very high (but that defeats the purpose of getting higher watt MH's). You will have very high temps.

All I did was put a fan blowing accross inbetween the light and lid. The fan is $30 for a plug and play that mounts on the side of the tank.

Or just make a computer fan yourself. My temps never got above 82 even in the heat of the summer.

The highest temp that I have seen in my tank when it was a fresh setup was around 27 degrees celsius so with the fixture on I don't think I will have to worry all that much.

You can see my smaller computer fan here on the top left. It worked awesome. I could even touch the glass top without it burning me. I then upgraded to an actual tank mounted one that looked better.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...a/DSCN2008.jpg