Lighting help...

[Waterboy]

I have a 48L X 24H X 15W acrylic tank. I have been looking to buy this 305W Metal Halide Fixture & Ballast System on Aquataders for $199.99. http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=220
Any one know if this is a good brand?
My hood has a hieght of 4 1/2 inches, the light is 3 1/2 high. Also the back of the hood is not inclosed(still might be to hot inside?). Would this be to hot on the acrylic? If so how high would the light have to be above the tank and still work? Or, could I go to 280W system and be ok?
I was thinking I could maybe add 6 inches to the hood making it 10 1/2 inches of space. Maybe this would be better?
Any thoughts? Change brands? Change watts?

 

[wrightme43]

With a 48" tank I would reccomend 2 Mh bulbs, with a tank depth of 24" 250 watt bulbs are reccomended.
Promise you will be alot happier.

 

[Blazer88]

I know some people on RC had problems, and even fires, from those fixtures. I *think* they have since changed models to items of better quality and people have much less problems, but it still doesn't seem worth the risk IMO.

My opinion would be to extend the height of your canopy and get a retro kit (4" is not going to be enough, mine is about 9"). I got my 36" VHO/MH kit from diyreef.com and I couldn't be happier. It was only $119 for the retro kit, all I needed to buy was a MH bulb and ballast. If you have a 48" tank, you probably would want two MH's bulbs to get good coverage on the ends. I have a single MH on my 36" tank and the upper corners are a little dark, though I don't mind at all and it isn't really noticeable. I got a 250W ARO electronic ballast from hellolights.com and got my Hamilton 14,000K bulb locally. Here is a link to the retro. Hope this helped.
http://diyreef.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=64&products_id=258

 

[Waterboy]

Thanks for the help.