T5 mounting advise
 

I'll be mounting my T5 retro fit soon and I'm wondering how close they can be to my 400 watt MH? Will the heat from the MH ruin them?

Is the halide a pendent or retro? Are there fans in the canopy?

T5's have an optimal operating temperature, so running them with a bit of cooling is definitely a good idea. However, if you have proper heat barriers (eg. a pendant), you should be able to get the T5's pretty close to the halide.

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The MH is a retrofit, mounted under my canopy. I have a fan blowing directly on the bulb.

I was planning on bolting the reflectors that came with the T5's right to the existing MH reflector as seen below. My estimate would be that they will be about 12" away from the MH bulb. Would this be OK?


http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/untitled2.bmp

Looks fine to me. Just check on the mounting. You'll want the T5 reflectors to transfer as much of the light as possible downwards vs towards the MH bulb. While you aren't aiming for PAR, which makes this much less of an issue than it would have been, it's still worthwhile to maximize the actinic supplementation.

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The ends of the T5 reflectors represent the very front and back of the tank. I'm still undecided if this will work, I may try a couple of different ways. The only thing I know is that they can't be mounted to the top of the canopy without modifying the MH reflector.