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Snowsrfr
03/11/2013, 08:23 AM
I have a 36" ATI Sunpower 6 bulb fixture I need to hang over my tank.

It has the mounting/hanging hardware, but due to where it's situated, hanging it from the ceiling is less than ideal, and don't really want to go that route.

I've thought of building some sort of set up that mounts to the back of the stand and comes up and over the tank, that will still allow for height adjustment through the mounting wires.

I've also thoughty maybe there might be some way of mounting something to the wall behind it and having something extend out over the tank and once again, use the mounting hardware and wires for height adjustment. I did something something similar to this back when I had a 65, but that tank sat "flush" up against the wall due to being reef ready with built in overflow. My new tank is drilled in the back for return and overflow, so it sits ~5" from the wall.

I'm drawing a blank here.

Any ideas, or thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

hypnoj
03/11/2013, 11:27 AM
following, I too need to build a light fixture hanger.

HV1990
03/11/2013, 12:45 PM
I used 80/20 aluminum with brackets to hang my lights. You can see my build thread. I am also suspending a 6x24w ati fixture.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2257552

805mike
03/11/2013, 01:34 PM
I went to ACE Hardware, and got some large L brackets, along with a 10"x"36" black laminate shelf, and a 12"x36" black shelf. $20-25, maybe.


http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u430/mikec805/2013-01-15_20-42-58_218.jpg

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u430/mikec805/2013-03-03_17-03-38_280_zps674264f9.jpg

Paul B
03/11/2013, 01:37 PM
My lights raise and lower with a touch of a finger with cables and counterweights. Of course this is concealed in a closet or else I would have to make it better looking.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh270/urchsearch/LEDs050.jpg

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh270/urchsearch/IMG_1092.jpg

mfinn
03/11/2013, 05:30 PM
Check this out.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-04/diy/index.php


I made some like these only I used a single 90 degree bend.
I did have to use 2.
Conduit is cheap, easy to paint.
I found some plastic end caps to close the hole that was facing outward.
The plastic caps were for lawn chair repair at Home Depot.
When I did mine, I found a guy in the electrical depart at HD and asked if he could make the bends for me so I didn't have to buy the bender. He said no problem.
I fastened them to my wood stand with conduit c clamps.

madean
03/13/2013, 11:09 PM
I have to agree with mfin on the use of conduit to have it run up the back of the aquarium bend a 90 degree towards you and then either bend 90 degrees left or right. That way power cords can be zip tied to the conduit and ran back to a power source giving it a simple and clean look. Allthough some of the examples in that article are crappy bends. The idea is a good idea. If you go this route some tips would be to find a no-dog (which is a small level that will help you bend this type of a bend) and an angle finder (whether its digital or not). These two tools, and understanding how to use them, along with the proper bending shoe will help you accomplish this. I would also try and find rigid pipe and not use emt. Also on the vertical 90 degree bend, I would actually bend it less than 90 degrees. So your bending it like 87-89degrees and the reason for this is because the fixture has some weight to it. When you hang the fixture, the conduit will sag a little from the weight of the fixture. This is to be expected. You will just need to find that sweet spot of the sag. So when you have the finished product your vertical and horizontal members will be level. Some of the examples shown in the link above are not level horizantally. Take a look at them. Thats due to over/under bending and not accounting for the sag when the weight of the light is placed on the conduit. So ideally you should be able to install the bent conduit and the vertical member would be level, and the horizontal member thats between the 2 bends will be slighlty rising up or just barely out of level.

Get familiar with the bending shoe, if I remember right most have directions that come with the shoe on how to make your bends, or follow the link above. This was the method that I was going to do, until I realized how much light spill over the t5 light was going to provide the room with. Then i decided to put the light in a custom DIY canopy. And now I might just be changing my lighting period.

madean
03/13/2013, 11:19 PM
The 80/20 could be pretty cool stuff to. Maybe have a vertical member rise out the middle back of the tank and hard 90 foward to the front of the tank and then tee left and right. With the right brackets this could look pretty sweet. It also comes in annodized black. You might even be able to run the power cord down the t channel of the profile for a clean look as well. Actually I think i would rather use the 80/20 then the conduit. I think it will look better. You will just need to be really precise with your measurements. Check out there website and look at the catalogue, it will give you an idea of all the parts and then go to a distributor website and punch in the part numbers for prices and to find a local distributor by you.

HV1990
03/14/2013, 08:16 AM
Amazon or they have an ebay store

mfinn
03/15/2013, 01:28 PM
Maybe another option would be something using a product called ez-tube.

http://eztube.com/catalog

I made a light rack with it for 3 Radions for my 240.

http://imageshack.us/a/img542/6466/lightrackandlights3.jpg

SantaMonica
03/15/2013, 07:54 PM
I'm a big fan of powered lifts. The low cost linear actuators for big screen TV's seem to do the job well, and have ready to use hand held controllers.