"Benthic" wrote in message ...
1. im concerned about the lights. is 6-8 inches too far away?

What is your goal for raising the lights? You will definitely lose
intensity
with each inch.


no absolutley not!!! you will not lose much intensity through the air.

Think about this for a moment... the farther away a light source is
the dimmer the light. Of course you loose intensity the higher the
light is above the tank!

If your lights are 6 to 8" above the tank, then you must have an open
top tank? You only need a fan in a closed system to draw the heat out.
If there is 6 to 8" of open space then a fan would be pointless. What
is your reason for having that much space?

Robert Hudson
www.aquabotanic.com