Acrylic Aquarium

[turtleman9100]

The bracing on my acrylic aquarium is hugh in the rear of the tank. Is there something like a sheet of glass or even lexan that will buffer heat and allow me to safely run metal halides over the bracing without damaging the acrylic?

[rgrobe]

I have a 180 acrylic with bracing on top. The entire tank is 1/2" thick. I run 3 150 HQI's at about 3-4". It doesn't seem to have had any ill effects. If you are concerned about the heat a fan blowing across the top will disapate the heat on the surface as well as the water. I believe that it takes alot of heat to damage acrylic. To create the corners on rounded tanks the acrylic must be heated in a high temp oven before it can be bent.

I admit I don't know for sure but a well made tank should handle the heat from the HQI's as long as there is a reasonable air space between. I can't imagine that acrylic tanks would be as popular if they are that easily melted, warped, or discolored by the heat from lighting. Granted your 250's will put out more heat than my 150"s. Still it is hard to imagine that the difference could cause any serious issues with the acrylic itself.

Hopefully someone with some actual knowledge can chime in so we both know.

[turtleman9100]

ttt

[crvz]

What is your concern? How close to the tank are the bulbs, and how much wattage are they? I imagine a nice fan would alleviate the majority of any heat transmitted.

[turtleman9100]

My lights are 250 watts. However, I would imagine a quarter of the back of the tank is covered with acrylic brace and its very dark in the back of my tank. I would love to run metal halides over the brace to light up the back of the tank.