Lights and tank support bands

[FishWife]

Our bow 175g has two plastic support bands across the top of the tank from back to front. Recently, we rigged our "canopy" as planned...

 

and it's beautiful...

 

But in so doing, we needed to lower the light fixture...

 

to within three or four inches of these support struts. We burn the halides about seven hours per day, and I'm beginning to see stress on these struts. What can I do to protect them or reinforce them?

 

Here are options I've thought of:

 

1. Wrap the struts in aluminum foil to reflect light. Question: will aluminum foil rust, or foul the tank?

 

2. Use epoxy to glue mirrors on struts such that light is reflected, again, saving heat from struts. No downside to this one... but...

 

Are there other options that you all have adopted? TIA, as always!

[ReeferMan]

IMO your only option is to increase the height of the lights which im sure isnt what you wanted to here. It only takes about a year or so to wear them out to the point they will break. Some cut them out and replace it with clear acrylic but it needs to be empty to be safe. I say put the canopy on chains from the ceiling and have the whole canopy raised 4 inches. Maybe you could rig something to make up for the 4 inches that your canopy will be short

[Grav]

I don't get it.

 

What is all that PVC doing if not shading the plastic trim?

 

Seperate note, what is going on with the egg crate at the back of the tank? Are you zip tying stuff to that or what?

[FishWife]

I don't get it.

 

What is all that PVC doing if not shading the plastic trim?

 

Separate note, what is going on with the egg crate at the back of the tank? Are you zip tying stuff to that or what?

 

The PVC supports the flimsy plastic canopy. The lights are mounted UNDER the PVC structure, which is hinged to the wall so I can lift it daily to feed, etc.

 

There's more detail on this and on the egg crate on our tank build thread, linked in my signature!

[jason the filter freak]

I think you're on the right track with the mirrors. The cracking and the stress is going to be caused more by radiation than heat. Some one with more knowldge in Chem/Physics can agree or disprove me here but IMO the mirrors might vert well do the trick, you could also combine that with a fan blowing across the strut, which would also add to over all cooling to the tank.

[Rascal]

I don't get it.

 

What is all that PVC doing if not shading the plastic trim?

 

Fish:

 

That's not a bad idea though. What if you cut a section of PVC in half lengthwise and then put one piece on each of the struts?

 

You could also just try some air duct tape. Not the generic duct tape but the expensive stuff you can find in the aisle with all of the air duct parts. It is very thick and highly reflective (also highly conductive probably though). The advantage would be if it did start to rust you could just remove it and apply a new piece of tape. I use some of this to protect the cords in my canopy from the halide heat. No rust in 18+ months now.

 

Either way I like the idea of a fan blowing when the halides are on to cool things down a bit.

[FishWife]

Fish:

 

That's not a bad idea though. What if you cut a section of PVC in half lengthwise and then put one piece on each of the struts?

 

You could also just try some air duct tape. Not the generic duct tape but the expensive stuff you can find in the aisle with all of the air duct parts. It is very thick and highly reflective (also highly conductive probably though). The advantage would be if it did start to rust you could just remove it and apply a new piece of tape. I use some of this to protect the cords in my canopy from the halide heat. No rust in 18+ months now.

 

Either way I like the idea of a fan blowing when the halides are on to cool things down a bit.

 

good ideas, thanks!

[davelin315]

I doubt it's the UV causing your problems. My take is that the mirrors would not help, nor would the tinfoil. Just my feeling, not necessarily backed up by any facts.

[Jon Lazar]

Our bow 175g has two plastic support bands across the top of the tank from back to front. Recently, we rigged our "canopy" as planned...

and it's beautiful...

But in so doing, we needed to lower the light fixture...

to within three or four inches of these support struts. We burn the halides about seven hours per day, and I'm beginning to see stress on these struts. What can I do to protect them or reinforce them?

 

Fishwife,

 

Have you considered replacing the PVC frame with 1"x2"s on edge? It's not as easy as wrapping the PVC pipe with foil, but you won't have to worry about your lights falling into the tank.

 

Jon