Building Light Hanging Arms

[chibils]

Has anyone built their own arms to hang their lights from? If so I'd love to see up-close pictures so I can see the attachment point. I've got a 48" T5 and I've always used the legs but in the space I've set it up in I want to hang it.

The catch is that the ceiling is about 16 feet. So I'm thinking arms made from bent conduit and then suspending the fixture using cable like in most OEM hanging kits.

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[chibils]

Can't edit but just occurred to me to add: the OEM hanging kit for my light (AquaticLife T5) is designed to hang from a ceiling, which I'm not willing to do. I don't want to buy a $40 kit only to find out I can't modify it to fit on arms.

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[sewer urchin]

I haven't used any conduit for a tank but I've have for some other projects

Here are a couple of oldies but goodies that I book marked for later reference.

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74859&highlight=bending+conduit">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74859&highlight=bending+conduit</a>
[IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=50583&highlight=bending+conduit">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=50583&highlight=bending+conduit</a>




after looking at the dates on some of these, I think that I may have been saving these for too long.


Couple of good tricks in there, I never knew that wiping the conduit down with vinegar will make the paint stick better..... though it makes perfect sense after you do it.


Another possibility for you to consider is using heat to bend PVC into the shape that you need.

 

[chibils]

Thanks!

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[sewer urchin]

How heavy is the light?

oh and if you do the PVC method and use heat to bend.... it can catch fire. Don't ask how I know.

 

[chibils]

It's about 20 pounds. I'd prefer not to use PVC but I may end up with it.

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[jbadd99]

I used pieces of angle iron and riveted them together to form a frame to hang from. After that you can use just about anything you'd like to hang it by only slightly modifying the frame.

 

[heathlindner25]

I can bend conduit ,hit me up.

 

[heathlindner25]

heathlindner25;1074608 wrote: I can bend conduit ,hit me up.

It's so crazy I cannot edit my post 2 seconds after sending....lol but I was going to say I'm in Flowery Branch right down the street

 

[chibils]

heathlindner25;1074609 wrote: It's so crazy I cannot edit my post 2 seconds after sending....lol but I was going to say I'm in Flowery Branch right down the street

Hey! Someome nearby!

Appreciate the offer, but I can get a conduit bender from work.

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[heathlindner25]

No problem

 

[j_b_]

I made one using galvanized pipe. I left mine galvanized, because it went with the rest of my stand, but you could certainly paint it, and it's plenty sturdy to hold whatever you want. It can get a bit spendy, if you let it...for mine, I spent right at about $100 for everything. Here's a couple of pictures of mine. I left the shorter upright pieces, attached to the flanges, somewhat loose, which allows me to rotate it off to one side to provide some addt'l room for getting into the tank to do maintenance.

Hope this helps with your decision...

 

[sewer urchin]

That's the one I was looking for... cool build JB

 

[chibils]

Love it J.B.! That's a really cool idea, I'm about to build a desk in that same style!

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[mag327]

We did one over our cube in our last apartment where we took closet organizing brackets, places a shelf on top and then a rod in the bracket and hung the light using decorator chain. We painted the rod to match the shelf and decorator chain but this picture was before we spray painted. It was a simple fairly cheap fix for us. We could throw another few links up on the hooks to raise the light for maintenance and drop it back down when we were done. Worked out for us.

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[chibils]

mag327;1074754 wrote: We did one over our cube in our last apartment where we took closet organizing brackets, places a shelf on top and then a rod in the bracket and hung the light using decorator chain. We painted the rod to match the shelf and decorator chain but this picture was before we spray painted. It was a simple fairly cheap fix for us. We could throw another few links up on the hooks to raise the light for maintenance and drop it back down when we were done. Worked out for us.

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Talked to a guy at work yesterday who convinced me this was a better idea than the arms. I'm just waiting on approval from the fiancée since it will put some screw holes in the wall lol.

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[mag327]

Chibils;1074756 wrote: Talked to a guy at work yesterday who convinced me this was a better idea than the arms. I'm just waiting on approval from the fiancée since it will put some screw holes in the wall lol.

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I do think it creates a little less obtrusive of a look, personally, especially if it is in a space like your living room where your fiancé sees it all the time. That was my opinion anyway. Could even put some decorative items on the shelf that syncs with the rest of your space.

 

[chibils]

Agreed! The big issue is that it's up against a false half-wall between the kitchen and the living room and there's a little "window" opening between them that the tank sits under. The fiancée doesn't want any part of the tank blocking the window (I'm with her on this) and the solution was to make arms where I can hang the light closer to the water or above the window as needed. I'd like to add pulleys to the brackets so I can raise or lower the light to work on the tank, adjust light levels (acclimation, new fish, that kind of thing - right now it's planted FW but it'll be SW in a few months).

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[chibils]

That's a beautiful tank btw - what size/dimensions is it and what do you have in it?

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[j_b_]

Chibils, it sounds like you may have already decided which direction you are going to go, but I wanted to post this to hopefully provide some clarification on my setup.

I remembered I had made this video a while back to help answer someone else's question about how the canopy on this tank works, so I figured I would go ahead and post it here.

https://youtu.be/OmGiHqpOn58">https://youtu.be/OmGiHqpOn58</a>

[IMG]https://youtu.be/OmGiHqpOn58" alt="" />