Wood canopy and T5 lighting

[dmatt88]

Howdy. Im building a canopy for my tank and hearing from others that the wood top with T5s built into it will get too hot and be a fire hazzard. Anybody have any good or bad stories re their lighting? any precautions need to be taken to ensure success? Thanks for the help. Matt

 

[EmagdniM]

I have no issues...this is my setup.

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/diy/62123-tek-retro-kit-install-how-dial-up-beware.html

The only thing even remotely hot is the ballasts. The lights are only warm.

 

[BigJay]

I would consider that misinformation and would further go on to say in a full canopy T5's are your best option, as far as heat is concerned. If your really worried remote mount the ballasts outside of the hood. The bulbs will get hot enough that you can't touch them but to consider them a fire hazard, I wouldn't think so. I would add at least one fan blowing into the hood and one fan blowing out on opposite ends of the hood, or a couple fans on top with open vent holes on the side.

 

[BigJay]

I guess I should clarify something though. Lighting of any type can be a fire hazard in a full canopy. It's not from the heat though. It's from the wet and salt environment. The full hood will trap the moisture and if you have anything that's not waterproof it can start to cause shorts. I had a fire in my 125 about 18 years ago from using non aquarium specific lighting components that were connected by wire nuts inside the hood. If your doing retrofit lighting just make sure you use water proof endcaps and any wiring you do is protected where its not insulated.

 

[Eric]

Another suggestion is to put spacers between the reflectors and where the mount this will allow air to pass though and less heat transfer to the canopy itself. this is more for metal halides but can be used as an added precaution with the T5s

 

[dmatt88]

thumbs up to all the good information. Fantastic help from all

 

[nightfire76]

yeah i have spacers under my reflectors and my ballast out side my canopy mounted on the back of it and the wood only gets warm

 

[newsalt]

no issues with my canopy and T5s or when I had MHs. I do need to mention that the back of my canopy is completely open.

 

[61scout80]

I wouldn't be worried. I ran (2) 250 watt metal halides and (2) 96 watt PCs under my hood for over 2 years. The only problems I had was popping MH bulbs when I got sloppy and splashed water....generally right after I located my long spine urchin and jumped

You can see some discoloration on the finish, but not one bit of it looks like it got near a point of ignition. As you can see my hood wasn't 100% sealed, and I had 2 small fans sucking the heat out on the back of the tank.

If you do want to add an insulation barrier check out you local speed shop. There are various materials that we use in the auto industry to keep heat out of where it shouldn't be.