Shop light halide and Drilling plexiglass tank question?

[jasonak]

Hi
Just got a 180 plexiglass tank,Ive got a a couple 120s right now that are glass and I use overflow boxes on them which are kinda a pain. I was thinking I would just drill a hole in the top corner of my tank and the let the water over flow right out the hole is there anything else to doing this other than putting some type of filter over the hole,for it to work like a overflow ?
Any links for info on doing this,or diffrent styles of doing it ???

Also Im building my own stand and top.Has anyone used those metal halide shop lights for lighting ???
I know the bulbs wouldnt be the right spectrum but i figured I could get diffrent bulbs form fosters and smith or somthing,but wasnt sure if they would fit ther shop light or if the shop lights are totally diffrent then the other double ended lights they sell ?

thanks

[unhpian]

Be careful with the "shop light" - make sure it really is metal halide - most of the ones I've seen are halogen, and are not interchangeable with MH bulbs - and I've never seen a halogen bulb in the correct spectrum for reef use.

[jasonak]

Yeah I wasnt sure if the shop lights would work I just thought since I was bulding my own top I ddint need all the fancy case and big price of the metal halide ligth setups they sell online.

[snowman82]

you can use the shoplight halide ones, i hada friend using the ballasts and socket off one and worked just fine. i wouldn't use the reflectors from them as they are really big, i would just do a spider reflector if you want cheap or invest in a lumenarc or something. and they are usually single end lights not double end as far as the over flow, you will want to have a box on the front of it to do a little surface skimming so you have more water movement on the top, and just having a hole wont work out so well, you will need to install a bulkhead and attach PVC to run it to the sump. on the inside of the tank you can do an 90 degree pvc pipe turned up to control the water height if you dont want to make a plexi box, but its just easier to get ahold of www.gl*******s.com and order their kit for a DIY overflow :) comes with everything you need

[jasonak]

Hi
Thanks for the info.
I was talking about the shop lights that you have on a stand,they are usally around 8 bye 10.

The link isnt working to gl*******s

[jasonak]

Hi
Thanks for the info.
I was talking about the shop lights that you have on a stand,they are usally around 8 bye 10.

The link isnt working to gl*******s

[kgross]

Halogen shop lights are not good. But you might be able to find metal halide outdoor lights that you could use.

Overflow, yes a hole will work, but it will not give you very good surface skimming and it will be hard to keep quite. Either cut a slot and do an external overflow or build a box to mount inside the tank and then have a hole going out the back with an external durso (or even better 2 with one a full siphon like the hoffer gurgle buster setup), or with 3 like Beans silent Failsafe overflow)

Kim

[jasonak]

Thanks for the info.
I was looking at beans,I think ill go with that.How big do you make the box on the inside ? It looks like 3 or 4 inches deep.
thanks

[kgross]

I make ones like that 3 inches front to back and 4 inches top to bottom, with a 1 inch bulkhead and elbow, you will have to shorten the elbow to fit into the box, but it works very well and does not take up much room.

Kim

[jasonak]

Ok
Thanks for your help!!