*UPDATED* Custom 220 Inwall Build

[seanoman]

Also last night we started on installing our lighting canopy.

It will house 3 lumenarc mini reflectors with 400w galaxy ballasts.

Here we are starting to cover it with aluminum flashing to seal it up.


Fitting the reflector


A quick tank shot

[mseepman]

Looking great so far. Are you concerned that the lighting will generate too much heat with all that flashing trapping the hot air in?

[seanoman]

There will be a seperate 4" fan that will be exhausting all the heat out of the canopy and outside the house. Hopefully that will capture most of the heat and keep the water temp down aswell.

[Gools]

How much space are you left with on either side of the lumenarcs? I have the same width of tank 30", and can't decide on if to get the regular or mini reflectors. I do want to supplement with T5's on the side. What made you go with the mini's?

[Delphinus]

Looks awesome. I want to the do the same sort of lighting canopy for my 3 LA mini's too. I'm just waiting for my buddy to get his welding table built

Gools, one thought, take into account your Eurobracing too. I have a 30" tank too and decided to go with the mini's because I thought I could shoehorn 4xt5's over the tank. Then I realized that one set would be directly over the Eurobracing ... so I'm still deciding about 4 versus 2 myself.

[Gools]

I took that into account, but was going to put the T5 slightly lower then the lumenarc, I thought it wouldn't block that much light. I thought the reg size would just be better for coverage, even with a slight blockage from the T5 reflectors. But still on the fence.

[seanoman]

I went with the mini reflectors simply because of space and their footprint covers all that I need. Not sure on the exact space, but there is enough room to fit at least 3 2' T 5's between each reflector and on the ends. Also there is enough room to run 6' of T 5's on the front.