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Originally Posted by Rougiem I would like an opinion on this canopy. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Just an idea how to mount our 2 -250w MH. I hope the drawing is clear!
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Generally I think your plan is good. Here are a few of my thoughts -
Supporting the fixture from chains is a good idea. However, you do not need to be as elabotate as you show in the diagram. You only need to use a single chain on each end. Mount the chain halfway between the front and back. You may find that you will need to add a little weight to the front or back of the fixture to get it parallel to the tank frame.
Generally I prefer MH lighting 12 to 18 inches from the tank. This is easily adjusted via the chains.
I would recommend placeing glass or plastic over the the MH bulbs. Make sure it's far enough way so it will not get damaged by the heat. This feature protects the bulb. You don't want a splash from the tank breaking an $80 bulb. It also offers some protection from people accidently touching the bulbs, and some additional UV protection to the livestock in the tank.
I would also recommend installing one or two fans for ventilation. This will keep the temp of the fixture lower. For best airflow, be sure to have some way for the air to escape. The easy way to do this is by cutting additional holes the same size as the fan, and putting a screen over them.
You may wish to make the fixture higher than your diagram shows. By making the fixture 8 or 10 inches "thick", you provide a valence to block seeing the light when viewing the tank. This will provide better viewing. Since this is just a view block, it can be made out of light weight material. Since this is a school project, you might even want to make the fixture something like 15 to 18 nches "thick" and mount it just above the tank. This way the lights are still 12 inches from the tank, but the fixture keeps ass sorts of stuff out of the tank.
The front to back depth of the fixture need not be the same as the tank, but do leave some room, in case you wish to mount Actinic VHOs or PCs in the future.