Lighting, heat and fans

[londonloco]

I have a 120g fatboy I'm setting up as a planted angel tank. I never used my canopy on the reef tank due to the heat of MH's and two mag9.5 pumps. I think I'm going with the T5 retro kit. I read the T5's don't get as hot as my MH's. The canopy has an open back, and slits on the sides so heat can escape. Will I need fans in my canopy if I'm using four 54w T5's. Thanks, Loni

[SCMurphy]

Inside of a canopy just about every light fixture gets hot. Having some fans going is not a bad idea.

[JSnyder]

Also something to note, Metal halide and power compact need to reach a certain operating temp to reach max PAR. If you over cool either, your light output will suffer. This is opposite for any t-5 or LED setup, the better you cool them, the higher PAR and longer life you will get out of the emitter/bulb. I found this out when transiting form winter to summer this year, the light output of my t-5 setups dropped drastically, and the spectrum's drifted. I couldn't figure out why until I measured the case temps for these lights, they routinely measured over 105F (bulbs hotter). I added 2 fans to each of the fixtures and now the bulbs are bright, the right color temp, and don't need changing as often. In your case, it wouldn't hurt to put fans in you canopy.

[londonloco]

Thanks. Now, next obvious ?...which fans should I buy, do you have any fans you prefer, ones that run quietly?

[krisw]

Really interesting Jon, I didn't know that about the various types. Thanks!

[ingg]

Computer fans usually.

Silenx is one, Scythe is another, that are higher quality and quiet as all get out compared to competition.

Larger fans can be quieter and push more air, obviously, so use the largest size you can use.