Carlo Miceli
Non-member
Just wondering what I should do. 2 250w14K MH bulbs. I have them 2-3 Inches from the glass cover on the tanks. The glass cracked. Do I leave it as It already cracked? Remove Glass All together? Raise Light?
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New Halides Broke Tank Cover Glass
- Thread starter Carlo Miceli
- Start date
Andy O
Non-member
Just my opinion but I would probably remove the glass cover depending how bad it is. It will only be getting more and more direct light on it and may crack fully and fall in the tank. MH lights are definitely too low (as you found out the hard way). On my 90 gallon I have my lights (2 x 250) about 8 to 10 inches off the water.
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Carlo Miceli
Non-member
Do you all run glass covers or no?
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Carlo Miceli
Non-member
Reef How high above water are lights? Also How do you keep snails from popping out or other critters?
No glass here either. The majority of reefers don't use glass covers these days - they block evaporation causing heat problems, they get dirty, block light, and generally just get in the way.
Your DE lights should have glass sheilds/lenses that will protect the bulbs from splashes and will filter dangerous UV light. If your lights don't have them you'll need to look into something to serve that purpose.
As for height, you probally want the MH's at least 6 inches above the water.
Check out this link from sanjays lighting page, it suggests that 9 inches is probally best for 250w DE mh (discussion at the bottom of the article). If you look at the graphs on that page you'll see how some elevation above the water will be better because of light distribution patterns.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/feature.htm
My snails usually just head back down when they run out of water. If you keep jump prone fish, you can cover the top with egg crate, screen, a canopy that will deflect the jumping fish back into the tank, or any other creative idea.
Your DE lights should have glass sheilds/lenses that will protect the bulbs from splashes and will filter dangerous UV light. If your lights don't have them you'll need to look into something to serve that purpose.
As for height, you probally want the MH's at least 6 inches above the water.
Check out this link from sanjays lighting page, it suggests that 9 inches is probally best for 250w DE mh (discussion at the bottom of the article). If you look at the graphs on that page you'll see how some elevation above the water will be better because of light distribution patterns.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/feature.htm
My snails usually just head back down when they run out of water. If you keep jump prone fish, you can cover the top with egg crate, screen, a canopy that will deflect the jumping fish back into the tank, or any other creative idea.
Last edited by a moderator:
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Carlo Miceli
Non-member
I have wholes in the back of canopy, I guess I will just block that...
Thanks Andy.
Thanks Andy.
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Carlo Miceli
Non-member
Thanks for the responses. I know what I need to do!
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Carlo Miceli
Non-member
After much dilegance I removed glass and mounted it to my ceiling... Thanks All..
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Carlo Miceli
Non-member
Oops 1 Other Problem. With the MH on I noticed how dirty my warter looks....
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