cooling fans for canopy, anyone have experience?

[DonMD]

I picked up a US-made LED light fixture from BuildMyLed (Nick Klase) for my 75 gallon, and I really like it. I happened to check prices at the LFS today on LED's, and they're right up there in price with Nick's high-end products, only made overseas. My 75 gallon doesn't have a canopy, so the heat generated by the fixture is not a problem.

So now I'm considering changing out my lights on my 125 gallon show tank that has a canopy. Nick said I should really consider some forced ventilation. Has anyone here put in VERY QUIET fans in a canopy? The air flow doesn't need to be very much at all, just a little air exchange. I've looked online, but wanted to ask if anyone here has experience with this.

Thanks. -Don

[pastry]

Don, I have my LEDs for Nick as well and I have a canopy. No fans for cooling but the canopy sits about 5 inches (from top of glass covers to bottom of lid) of the tank yet the back side is open so I don't use any cooling fan. The lights are actually cooler than the T5's I used to have without a cooling fan! I will say that the LEDs aren't directly on the glass but instead on the mounts so that they are suspended b/w an inch to 1.5" above the glass. I have them on my 150 (6ft long which I'm just assuming yours is). I've left them on for several days before too without a break and no worries. I do want to put them on a timer soon.

[DonMD]

Thanks, Elliot. Your canopy sounds similar to mine, also about 5 inches tall, open in the back. I was talking with Nick about my setup, and he recommended the cooling fans to extend the life of the lights. It makes sense, if I can find the right fan.

[pastry]

Shoot, I'm going to have to harass Nick... he didn't tell about cooling fans! Ha ha... well, I'll still say they are cooler than my T5's ever were. But for fans I'd recommend looking into the fans that you can buy for biocubes and nano-type of tanks. you can buy those fans separately. I stripped them out of my biocube since I was experimenting and I may still have one. If I find it then I'll send it to you if you want to mess around with it to see if that'll suffice. Just let me know and I'll go see if I still have it.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Don I had used computer fans from RadioShack. They had a few different sizes. I had 2 on each end and 4 on the back side of the top. Some blowing out and some in.

[pastry]

actually, I like jeff's idea because the fans I was talking about don't necessarily have a conventional plug but instead need to be hardwired

[DonMD]

Well, I went over to MicroCenter to see exactly that, about computer fans. None of them are 120v, all require some type of power converter.

Tomorrow at work I'm going to call this company and see what they have to say about it: http://www.ebmpapst.us/en/contact/locations_usa/locations.html.

I'll let you know. Thanks for all the input! -Don