wbeavers Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 My local fish store was telling me that I could not run a reef tank in a 20 gallon high AGA with a 250 watt metal halide retroed into an 8 inch tall canopy. I would have a four inch fan blowin out. They told me too much heat ; I would need a chiller. Anyone have any experience or advice. Link to comment
Kingpin Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 tag same prob w/ 40G of water Link to comment
irishbing Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 Can you get a pendant? That would help with heat Link to comment
EtOH_is_good Posted August 23, 2004 Share Posted August 23, 2004 add another fan? raise the hood? seriously rebuilding the hood may be the best answer. under my 250w mh you can definately feel the heat as close as 10 inches. you may have some serious evap and heat problems. Link to comment
hickncali Posted August 23, 2004 Share Posted August 23, 2004 It all depends on alot of factors. One being ambient air temp(temp of the air around tank), if the MH is electronic or mag, how much cubic feet per min the fan can move. But these are the main and simple ways to control the temp. The best way to go is to keep your house as cold as you can(within reason), go with an electronic balast and get a powerful fan to blast across the surface of the water and across the bulb. Try to keep the bulb around 8-10" from the water surface. I personally am running a single 175mh 6" from my water with a single 4" coral life fan mounted on the side of the canopy aimed at the bulb. This works perfectly for me and from what I understand the 250w mh doesn't put out too much more heat than the 175. So some time soon i plan on up grading my balast and bulb too a 250. Link to comment
95 stang Posted August 25, 2004 Share Posted August 25, 2004 well i got 150watt hqi pfo pendant on my 12 gallon sitting on top of a 6'' custom canopy with two 3'' fans in it and it runs cooler than when I had 120 watts of pc's. my 2 micro chillers bearly if ever come on because of the fans and my room can get in the mid 80's, so I'm thinking of goinng to a 250watt up grade now. well I also have a dosing pump to top off and it goes throw three gallons in 3-4 days because evap due to the halide, but i like it. well if anyone else reads this and thats has a 250 over a 10 or12 gallon tank I want to know how you like it and what are the pros and cons of it. Link to comment
Simms142 Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 I have a 20 high 35 gallons volume with a XM 250 20K over it, it stays about 76 all summer long where my tank is, i have a diy pendant with two 4inch fans, one in, one out, (keeps evap low) no shield between the bulb and water. The tank stays 79-80 all day and night. I will post pics later if you need em Link to comment
corey0613 Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 i have a 250W HQI pendant about 8-10" over my 25 gal. no fans, and the temp stays around 78. LFS will tell you anything, especially if they have the chiller in stock!!! Link to comment
MrKrispy Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 corey do you have your pendant in a canopy though? Link to comment
coral reef Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 i run a 250w se 20000k on my 20h with a 4'' fan and temps stay around 80.0-81.5 but thats with my house temp no higher than 78 , also my canopy is 1' tall so the bulb has to be somewere around 9'' from water surface Link to comment
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