are fans necessary

[gaya]

hi all,

I'm looking into buying a power compact lighting fixture and I'm wondering if I should buy fans to go with it and should the fixture have legs or can it sit on my glass hood like a normal fixture. any body know?

thanks!

 

[Nospherith]

well, depends on what bulbs and intensity you get i guess. What lights are you thinking about and what tank is it for?

There's a 55w PC resting on top a plexiglass hood over my tank. The fixture has vents so heat can escape and I haven't noticed any need for more than that.

I've seen marine display tanks at the LFS that have a fan for their metal halide fixture. But I think those MH's produce alot of heat.

OK so if you're getting, i don't know, ~200-1000+watts then maybe you should consider a fan but you probably won't need one for your average planted tank. Sorry about the ambiguity, I really don't consider myself an expert at aquarium lighting.

 

[gaya]

thanks for responding nospherith,

It's a 2 x 65 watt fixture. So hopefully that shouldn't get too hot.

 

[Nospherith]

I did some googling and it turns out that Coralife's 2x65w has built in fans for excess heat dissipation... So I guess that 2 65's might be ok directly over a glass top but probably not plexiglass. You can also get those stand things that fit on the sides of the tank and elevate light.