# GlassTops and Canopies



## scott53326 (Sep 17, 2006)

Hi Guys/Gals,

I have a 75 Gallon All-Glass Aquarium that currently has 2 of the 2x55 AH supply lights/reflectors kits . I also have an All-Glass 2-bulb t12 fixture that I turn on for a few hours everyday. These lights currently sit on top of the the two glass tops(with hinged front access panels) that came with my All-Glass Aquarium. The AH lights are in the 48" enclosure that AH supplies on their site.

So basically I have the 48" AH Supply wood enclosure that covers half the depth of the the tank. If I put that exactly in the middle of the glass tank tops then some of the light gets clipped by the plastic hinges on the glass tops. This kind of annoys me, so then sometimes I push the AH enclosure towards the back of the tank glass top and then I put the All glass T12 light assembly over the front hinged part of the glass top so my foreground plants get the full reflectors light from the T12 assembly. This means every time I need to go feed my fish I have to take the t12 fixture and set it on the floor or stack it on the AH enclosure while I feed them. This is a pain.

I was thinking about getting the canopy that All-Glass makes for 75 gallon tanks. I was thinking about mounting the AH supply lights to the canopy . At this point I could either run without the glass tops or keep the glass tops on and maybe get rid of the plastic hinges and just have two seperate pieces of glass on each section.

So finally here are my questions:

1.) If I mount my AH supply kits to the canopy am I losing to much light being that that canopy would make the lights/reflectors like 8" higher than they are today.?

2.) If I mount the lights to the canopy and dont use the glass tops being that the lights would be 8-10 inches away from the water how safe is this? This make me a little nervous I guess.

3.) Stupid question ahead -->? If I go without glass tops inside the canopy and being that the light sit further up in the canopy am I going to get that nice light rippling effect that you sometimes see or do your eally only get that on Metal Halides or with some other voodoo? 

4.) Am I worrying to much about the plastic hinge stripping getting in my way 

Thanks
-Scott


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

My AH Supply bulbs are about 3 inches above the water, and have been for about two years now, with no problems and no glass between the bulbs and the water.
I don't think you will get the light rippling effect unless you use a more nearly point source of light like the MH bulbs.
I think I would mount the AHS light kits in the new canopy, located 8 inches or so above the water and trust the AHS reflectors to direct most of the light into the tank. I would have no glass between the bulbs and the water.


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## scott53326 (Sep 17, 2006)

Thanks Hoppy. I appreciate your thoughts on this.

-Scott


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## ponyrandy (Jan 13, 2007)

Scott, you may have the same problem I had. If your glass tops are equally split 50/50 between the front and back panels, just replace the tops with twin tube versatops. The back panel is bigger than the front hinged panel and gives you room for your lights to sit without the hinge blocking the light. You can find them on Drs. Foster and Smith website. Thanks again to Left C for telling me about them. Hope this helps.
Brian


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## scott53326 (Sep 17, 2006)

Thanks for the reply Brian,

My glass tops are already like the versa tops where the back is larger than the front. I guess since I have the AH supply reflectors which really focus the light straight down I feel that perhaps the front is still lacking when I run the AH lights lights over the large section without anything on the front(that is if I take the T12 fixture out of the picture). That's why I am considering running glass topless and just use a wooden canopy with the AH lights affixed to that. I dont know..maybe I am just being anal here, I don't know.  

I am usually the path of least resistance type of guy, but I want to do this right. 

-Scott


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

For several months I ran my AH Supply twin 36 watt tubes across the back of my tank, with no other light on the tank. I noticed the front plants tended to lean back to get under the light, and the higher light demanding plants didn't do well at the front. All I did was bend the front edge of one of the reflectors towards the front of the tank, so I would get more reflected light in front. Now after a month that way the front plants grow better and don't lean back like they used to. I didn't originate this idea, I got it from others.


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## Daniel Morris (Apr 23, 2006)

Scott - I know where you're coming from. I've been wondering about this ever since I got my AH supply lights but thought perhaps I was being too finicky.

My light setup (48 inch enclosure sitting directly on the glass top of my 72 bowfront) has three issues:

1. The water temp rises especially during the summer
2. Light doesn't quite get dispersed evenly as far as I can tell - especially in a bowfront where the foreground juts out 
3. Maintenance is a pain because I have to turn the light on its side or take it off the tank to get my hands in there

Again I thought I was being picky, but the critical issue is really the ease of maintenance.

SO I thought well maybe I can build legs for each end of the enclosure so its supported a few inches above the water surface allowing for (a) heat diffusion, (b) better light dispersion, and (c) easier access to the tank since the front glass top portion would open and rest on the raised enclosure.

The legs idea is similar the customsealife or orbitz lamps. An even better idea would be to have a setup that somehow allows you to swivel your enclosure up so that when you want to reach in your tank you just turn your lights up 90 degrees so that they are facing you. On second thought probably want to have them swivel backwards to avoid burning out your eyeballs.

HOWEVER - it sounds a bit risky to build something like this... and I do not have full confidence in my construction abilities :-k

I can't stop imagining that one day I'll be lazily staring in my tank and my light will crash down into the water electrifying all my fish and suddenly going dark. :faint:

HoppyCalif - I feel like I've read about several DIY projects that you've come up with or at least played a large part in developing the idea.. Does this sound like a quick easy project to you or is there more involved?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Here is the hood I made for my kinda bow fronted tank: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/do-yourself-aquarium-projects/28612-hoppys-diy-hood.html. I still use it and it works great. I made another hood that had the lights in the front half, so they hinged up like you described. I didn't like it because, as you noted, it just blinded me everytime it was open, and there was no light in the tank to see what I was doing. Making the bow front tank hood as I did it wasn't hard, and was fun, so it might be worth giving that general idea a try.


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## scott53326 (Sep 17, 2006)

Well for the time being I ripped off the plastics hinges and you know what?.... I am quite satisfied.
I just have to be a little careful when I move one of the two front glass parts that used to be hinged off to the side when I feed the fish not to knock them off the side of the tank. 

Other than that I feel I have better light coverage up in front now that the hinges are gone.

The only think I still have to do now is make sure to clean the glass tops every week during water changes on the weekends.


-Scott


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