LED's on glass top.

alexkharden · 01/31/2016, 07:06 PM

I have 2 reef breeder photon 24's that are going over my 190g DT that will have 23" of water in it. I have two 1/4" pieces of glass that I will be using for a canopy top. I was wondering if there would be any problem lying the led boxes directly on the glass, instead of hanging them above the tank. I'm not worried about air exchange because I have a large sump and oversized skimmer, I know the glass can easily support the weight, and I know that I'll have to keep the intensities lower because the lights will only be 2 1/2 inches off the water if on top of the glass. What I don't know is if the fixtures will overheat or anything, and if having them closer to the water will affect the spread of the light too badly. Can someone give me some guidance? Thanks everyone!

Bogue Chitto · 01/31/2016, 08:18 PM

I would put a small 1/2 inch spacing between the light and the glass to allow some air to pass around and keep the glass from getting too hot.

alexkharden · 01/31/2016, 08:26 PM

That makes sense. It would also help spread the light a little too. I went ahead and put them up there, just to see what I could see, and to the naked eye there's a strip front to back in the middle of the tank that looks a shade or two darker. The 1/2" gap might spread that a little, and if it ends up being too noticeable I think I could put 120 optics on it instead of the 90's it came with. That would probably help too, I think.

01/31/2016, 07:06 PM	#1
alexkharden Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Evansville, Indiana Posts: 336	LED's on glass top. I have 2 reef breeder photon 24's that are going over my 190g DT that will have 23" of water in it. I have two 1/4" pieces of glass that I will be using for a canopy top. I was wondering if there would be any problem lying the led boxes directly on the glass, instead of hanging them above the tank. I'm not worried about air exchange because I have a large sump and oversized skimmer, I know the glass can easily support the weight, and I know that I'll have to keep the intensities lower because the lights will only be 2 1/2 inches off the water if on top of the glass. What I don't know is if the fixtures will overheat or anything, and if having them closer to the water will affect the spread of the light too badly. Can someone give me some guidance? Thanks everyone!

01/31/2016, 08:18 PM	#2
Bogue Chitto Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2015 Posts: 960	I would put a small 1/2 inch spacing between the light and the glass to allow some air to pass around and keep the glass from getting too hot.

01/31/2016, 08:26 PM	#3
alexkharden Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Evansville, Indiana Posts: 336	That makes sense. It would also help spread the light a little too. I went ahead and put them up there, just to see what I could see, and to the naked eye there's a strip front to back in the middle of the tank that looks a shade or two darker. The 1/2" gap might spread that a little, and if it ends up being too noticeable I think I could put 120 optics on it instead of the 90's it came with. That would probably help too, I think.