Red River Valley Reefers

I have a 55 gal. with AquaticLife T5HO 4 bulb. I just built a canopy for the top and my lights will now sit about 11 and 1/2 inches above the tank. Will this diminish my light enough to where it becomes worthless...?

That's a very long reach.

Does the fixture have the ability to be hung? If yes, just set up some eyelets in the canopy and hang the light from those with a chain. You can then adjust the height easily. Do you have some pics of what it looks like?

I have the aquaticlife 6 bulb t5 on my 75 and they are about 3" off the top. Have the suspension kit so lifting them out of the way is a snap when I need to get inside the tank.

What ballasts are you running with your lights?

T5's seem to very with ballast and bulb brands. only real way to tell is with a par meter.

well i just put the light on top of the canopy, and you can tell its just not as bright. The way i built the canopy, the light does not fit inside. I do not have the suspension kit for the light. I looked on their website and they dont have much about their system...guess i will have to scrap this canopy and rebuild after i get a suspension. i will get a pic soon. i didnt finish all the details mostly just trim, molding and doors

What suspensions are you using that you move the light out of the way..? The aquatic life kit looks like garbage...i need to be able to get in the tank...ie light OUT OF MY WAY...i had the light on the legs it came with and taking my light on and off the tank is just ridiculous.

Here is the suspension kit I bought. I was skeptical after reading the reviews, but since I didn't have many options I went for it. I have had no isssues in the year that it has been up. The cables can twist or kink when you have to take the fixture down to replace bulbs if its not done correctly, but after a couple times its easy.

http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticLife_ ... HK-vi.html

still not understanding how you moved the light out of the way without picking up the light and moving it...??? If i have to do that it defeats the whole purpose of easily moving the light...if its that way i might as well just leave the light on the lil legs and remove the light any time i want to get into the tank

They are spring loaded suspension bases where the cable will retract and lift the light out of the way... Then when done you just pull it back down and it holds. Correct me if I'm wrong please...

Sun Systems has something similar like that...AquaticLife has these little spring clips on the cable itself. I guess i was hoping they had something similar to the Sun Systems, but oh well...I dont think I want those offered by AL. But i may just end up going that route cause i dont wanna blow the bank on a tank that im gonna upgrade...im just lost on what i wanna do, but i know im sick of removing my light completely from the tank and then trying to work in the dark.

Here are two pics one is at normal height and the other is raised. And it could go all the way to the ceiling minus the two inches needed for the mount.

I hate phone cameras. can't rotate the pic. To raise depress pin on top (on the left in pic) and pull cable (on bottom in pic). Truly not difficult at all.