Halides With No Cooler

[andyk]

hi
does anybody out there run metal halides with a closed hood and no cooler???
if so does it overheat and if not how do you get away with it ??
andy

 

[Chac]

IMO you cant

 

[andyk]

does anybody know where i could get a cheap cooler from
andy

 

[Aquascaper]

I've never heard of anyone of anyone running halides in an enclosed hood with or without a chiller unit. I run a halide with a 8" desktop fan on an open top tank and the heat build up is still ridiculous. I supose it could be possible if enough fans were placed in the hood but the noise would be intolerable and you would near enough have an open top what with all the vents, etc.

IMO not worth the hassle

 

[andyk]

i was htinking of litterally cutting a hole in the tank hood and 'sitting' it on top, so only the back is in the open....do you think this would work with a cooler?
andy

 

[Aquascaper]

A Halide should be situated approximately 8" above the water line, this would mean you end up with a very high tank hood and it would certainly have to be custom made. There is no way you could retro-fit a Halide into a standard tank hood as there just isn't room.
I have custom made a 'hood' for my 100g which is nothing more than a wooden frame with a top, hinged lid and front so that when looking at the tank it looks like it has a full hood. You could go with something like that but bear in mind it is approximately 24" high in total.

As I said before though, a Halide mounted in a hood, even with a cooler, will not keep the water temp stable, just by removing the back will not be enough to rectifiy this.

 

[andyk]

i have custom built the hood from wood so if i got a halide unit and placed it on top it would sit 8" from the water line.maybe i will just fit the t5 unit i was looing at 3x54w and the 2xt8's
although the tank is 2ft deep and i was really hoping for more than just the basic low light corals.
why id=s nothing simple!!! andy

 

[Aquascaper]

Why is it a problem to suspend the halide over the tank? Also, the actual halide unit itself gets very hot, I personally wouldn't place it directly on or in close proximity to wood because of the risk of fire.

 

[andyk]

i just prefer the look of having a hood...
the fire risk is a good point that has crossed my mind. so basically if i were to hang it would i get away with the heat problem?
andy

 

[Aquascaper]

You will never get away from the heat problem with Halides, it is the down side of having good lighting unfortunately. However, without a hood it is easier to control without the massive expense of a chiller, you can usually get away with some PC fans mounted above the water surface to blow the heat away. An open top also allows better access for maintenance and general day to day tasks. There is one other drawback though...........certain fish can jump or escape, this is just typical of marine tanks......solve one problem and create another

 

[Chac]

although the tank is 2ft deep and i was really hoping for more than just the basic low light corals.

What are you thinking of keeping

 

[andyk]

i was hoping to keep clams and anenomes in the future...
but i dont want to pay out twice for lighting if you know what i mean...
do you think there is anychance of keeping these under t5's
andy

 

[Chac]

There are certain clams that can be kept under T5's (as long as you have enought of them)
& I have seen Nems in T5 tanks but halides are best IMO


Not a Clam expert have a look on clamsdirect.com

As Aquascaper says below nems can be a pain in the A**e as they like to go walkabout and end up sucked in to streams and can crash an established tank

 

[Aquascaper]

Forget anenomes....they're not worth it

Clams prefer Halides but can grow under T5's as long as they're not too far away from them, ie. on the bottom of the tank.

 

[andyk]

why do you say that about anenomes?
had bad experience?
andy