Need ideas for retrofitting lighting in this canopy!

[d2mini]

So i was able to get this 72" fixture, brand new with all bulbs (3 Radiums and 4 T5), m80 ballasts and shipping for an even $1k. It was a real easy way to begin my experiment of switching from a couple years of LED back to mh/t5. Now that the switch seems to be a success a few months later, I need to start thinking of a better way to get both MH and T5 in the canopy because shoving (and i really do mean shoving) an all-in-one fixture in there is a super pain in the butt cheeks. In order to change bulbs, the fixture needs to be removed to be able to slide out the single 70" long piece of glass.

What i want to do is hang 3 separate Hamilton Cabo Sun pendants and then hang separate T5 retrofit kits. The challenge is my rearward sloping canopy. I'm just not sure the best way to position the lighting and how to go about installing it. The MH pendants I can probably figure out easier than the T5's. That's what's really throwing me. The tank itself is 84" across which is quite a bit longer than an 80w T5 bulb.

Any ideas???
Here's a few pics to show you what I'm working with.


http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-znzC3VQ/0/O/i-znzC3VQ.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-g2gvR5c/0/O/i-g2gvR5c.jpg

[sfsuphysics]

Does the glass slide without removing any screws/brackets? If so maybe cut a small slot a bit bigger than the glass on one side, (put a hinged hatch over it) then you can slide it out sideways.

Baring that, then yeah pendants would be your best bet. What's the front back dimension of the tank? Could go with smaller (14.5") pendants and put a thin fixture front and/or back. Or perhaps 2 foot long fixtures run perpendicular to the long face.

[RocketEngineer]

I would consider something with a frame that everything rests on top of so that you could take a single MH "pendant" and lift it off the frame to change the bulb. The T5s could rest the round part of the socket on the same frame and have a board to mount the sockets on one side and the ballast on top. Typical T5s are 2.5" wide per bulb so a 1X6 would work for two bulbs either side of the MH. I agree with sfsuphysics that you should go with the smaller MH pendants especially if you want 4 T5 bulbs over a 24" wide tank.

HTH,

[d2mini]

Yeah, my tank is only 24" front to back and actually even less because the coast-to-coast overflow takes up 5". I don't want to unnecessarily light up my overflow's interior.

Could the mh pendants be mounted a little above the T5 bulbs with a little overlap without creating shadows?