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I have a 36" aquarium which I have 2 fixtures on right now. One is a 36" T5 fixture and the other is a 30" power compact one. The power compact fixture is new and I'm concerned about placing it directly on my glass top. Here are the options I came up with:

Glass top the way it is now -- will the power compact get too hot?

Glass top with the legs for the coralife power compact fixture -- seems like it would work but would there be any problems with the legs on the glass top?

Open top -- don't think I can do this because the fixture is 6 inches shorter than the tank but it would work with my T5 fixture.

Egg crate with fixtures sitting directly on top -- gets rid of the heat but increases evaporation quite a bit.

Egg crate with the mounting legs -- I guess the legs will help to get better coverage especially since the tank is longer than the fixture but my concern is whether the fixture would be too heavy on the legs for the egg crate to hold up, I'm not sure how sturdy this stuff is.

I have put lights directly onto thicker glass tops ever since I started having aquariums and that is coming up close to 40years ago. Yes on the very hot days it does help to heat up the tank especially the 40Lt Betta tank. What I did was to lift the lights off the glass with a piece of 2ins timber.

I have see the lights with legs that connect to the side of the tank knowing my luck some times I would guarantee I would knock the light and crack the ends of the tank.

Both my glass tops are made so that I can lift the narrow front piece for feeding with out having to remove the complete glass top or the light.

With open tops there is always a lot of evaporation.

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Keith

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it depends on how hot the fixture runs. If it runs really hot, then egg crate and directly on the glass are out of the question... but if it runs mildly or not hot then either should be fine. i would suggest using the light fixture you have with the legs... that will reduce heat transfer and allow for optimum tempreature, but some of the light will be lost... so get a GOOD bulb!

also as keithgh said, if the glass is fairly thick (as thick as the glass walls of the tank or more i would assume) then you should be fine, but the glass will also filter some fo the light... so there is always a loss to everysolution...

directly on egg crate has the potential to melt, but a wire mesh lid (thick gaged wire!) should do a bit better. try making a wood frame to fit in and get some witre mesh from the hardware store (then paint both with spray paint... the mesh would do best if white, and if you have a black tank trim paint the wood black...)

good luck!


-brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I had a 130 watt power compact sitting directly on top of a glass lid for several months last summer and I did notice that the temp did get high. I solved the problem by getting a small desktop fan (5 bucks at Target) and set that on top of the light angled to blow down the length of the light. This solved the problem nicely, and I would say if your worried that this would be a great and inexpensive way to go.

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