How close to the water can the light sit without a lid?

[jassz]

Rather than tell you something incorrect, I thought it would be best if I posted a thousand words with a picture or two. How do you tell if the endcaps are waterproof? Sorry, I bought this whole set up used, and it's my first tank so I don't know a lot of this stuff. Hanging it from the ceiling is a possibility in this spot, but I was worried it would swing too much, plus it's more difficult to remove to change bulbs etc.

[sphelps]

They don't have water proof caps so unless you want to risk creating a short circuit (leads to ballast/bulb failure or fires) you need some kind of shield to keep water out.

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by jassz

Rather than tell you something incorrect, I thought it would be best if I posted a thousand words with a picture or two. How do you tell if the endcaps are waterproof? Sorry, I bought this whole set up used, and it's my first tank so I don't know a lot of this stuff. Hanging it from the ceiling is a possibility in this spot, but I was worried it would swing too much, plus it's more difficult to remove to change bulbs etc.

Those are NOT waterproof endcaps. If you did have waterproof endcaps you would have to do an extra step (unscrewing the endcaps) before you could remove your bulbs.

With your setup up you can pop the bulbs in and out with just a twist, which is convenient, but also risks letting water in. See how the metal collar of the bulb and the endcap slot are completely exposed?