Lighting setup

[robbyville]

As mentioned above, the biggest thing I learned when designing my canopy was:

Keep the back open as much as possible, even if it means more light splash on the back wall

Keep the fan holes bottom of center, you don't need to cool the bulbs but draw out the air below and cool water

Have both fans blowing cool air in, and let the heat dispel from the rear (No pun intended)

My canopy is not perfect but even in the heat of this summer with no air conditioning I was able to keep my tank at the highest 80deg but mostly 78. This is with a 60 gal with no remote sump. On extremely hot days I also ran a clip on fan from the back of the canopy. If you have a larger tank with remote sump I think that you will have minimal problems with heat if that is your main concern!

[Lofus]

So My current plan is:

2 x 250W HQI PFO ballast
DE sockets

2 x 250 Ushio DE bulbs.

Then a coupld of NO Actinics on either side.

I have to design the canopy around the lights so I'm thinking open back with some shutter blinds to keep the light splash down and a couple of 4" fans on either end to cool things down.

What do you think?

[Delphinus]

Sounds like a keen plan to me...

[kari]

Don't forget to add an UV shield to the canopy plan if you are thinking DIY.

[robbyville]

Sounds great! Looking forward to seeing your design for the canopy! One other suggestion that I would make is to make sure that your door openings are plenty wide for maintenance without having to remove the canopy and without burning your arm on the bulbs. My door openings are 9.5". The other thing that I'm happy we did was to have overlapping door flaps and inset doors. We did this to avoid light leak from the front, even though I have so much of it from the back (open)

Good luck and have fun!

Rob