minimum distance for 250 hqi's?

[dr.darkness]

How close can I be to the water surface with 250 hqi's? I'm building a new hood so I was wondering how tall I need to make it. Btw it's a standard 85g tank.

[truthdesigns]

I have my 250 HQI 8" Above the water

[murphreef]

ditto mine are about 8"

[gavin123]

mine are only 4.5 inches, is that too close? the reason is i have my tank next to window and the breeze keeps the tank cool. They are also double ended pendents and i have them hanging from the cealing. so without a hood i think you can go closer.

[wcpeixoto]

Here about 5,5" from water.

[Purple Haze]

4.5" to the bulb, about 3" to the actual glass shield. (ROIII DEs)

[MammothReefer]

NOooo.... You want the glass shield higher! I used to have mine low, I broke 2 shields, when they got splashed and burst, littered my tank with glass. I'd go 8" from water surface to bottom of the pendant at least.

[jeffbrig]

IMO, height depends on how broad a coverage you need. Higher mounting trades intensity for broader area coverage. You can put them practicallly right on the water if you don't care about coverage, and are willing to deal with the heat, salt creep, etc.

[reefkoi]

my luminarcs are 7 inches above the water to the glass shield.

[Satori]

My 250's are mogul, but they are 13" above the water.

[teen]

7" to the glass shield here.

since yours are going in a hood, i would leave enough room for a fan on each side between the water surface and the bulb so you can get all that hot air out of there.

[Sophia&Dad]

Ours goes water, +2" to glass, +2" to UV shield, +2" to bulbs. 250W 14k. Glass gets hot but not enough to break when wet.

[Kip]

over my 48x24x13 frag tank... 2x 250wP14kDEs at 10" off the water and the frags about 1-2" off the bottom