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Hey! i just finished my own little project with lights! nothing anywhere near as advanced as some of you geniuses manage to knock together, but all the same it made me proud!
i picked up a 36" coralife aqualight from barrettsline (gave me a good deal, solved alot of problems for me!), only slightly too long for the 20gal long which is currently cycling.
The wife doesn't like the look of the feet and insisted i found some way of suspending it above the tank...so a couple of hours walking round home depot and rummaging through my tool boxes....this is what i came up with!
Parts list;
1 - 20ft 32nd gauge steel hanging wire $7
2 - 2 packs of wire clamps - $8
3 - 1 pack dry-wall ceiling screw plugs (rated to support 170lbs...should be alright with 10, right? ;-) $1.50
4 - 1 pack ceiling hooks - $1.50
5 - 1 pack picture hooks - $1.50
total cost of project - $19.50............total weight of smug, self-congratulatory, inflated head...immeasurable!
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i simply measured (measure out from wall to halfway on tank...make sure holes are above edges of tank), marked out, drilled and inserted ceiling plugs, then the hooks. the ability to move the aqualight mounting points means that i had a little room for error, but i tried to get it as dead centered as i could.
then i simply screwed in the picture hooks to the coralife mounting leg - mounting points. the hooks when tightened will hold the mounting points tightly and exactly where you place them.
then it was simply a case of running the wire between the two points in the ceiling and the four points on the light, looping the wire around the picture hooks and securing with the wire clamps. the wire clamps allow you to go around the fixture, tightening one at a time till all is level and taught.
i think all in all, it was a pleasing little project, i might make a few aesthetic changes, but for the dollar i laid down for it, i think the outcome is fairly stunning!
any comments/suggestions for improvements are appreciated! (i thought about simple, heavy duty 'L' brackets from the wall to suspend from, but i couldn't find any that were "just so", so i went for the simpler and quicker option...i may....scratch that...almost definitely WILL change my mind down the line and end up going for the
brackets ;-) )
i picked up a 36" coralife aqualight from barrettsline (gave me a good deal, solved alot of problems for me!), only slightly too long for the 20gal long which is currently cycling.
The wife doesn't like the look of the feet and insisted i found some way of suspending it above the tank...so a couple of hours walking round home depot and rummaging through my tool boxes....this is what i came up with!
Parts list;
1 - 20ft 32nd gauge steel hanging wire $7
2 - 2 packs of wire clamps - $8
3 - 1 pack dry-wall ceiling screw plugs (rated to support 170lbs...should be alright with 10, right? ;-) $1.50
4 - 1 pack ceiling hooks - $1.50
5 - 1 pack picture hooks - $1.50
total cost of project - $19.50............total weight of smug, self-congratulatory, inflated head...immeasurable!
pic3-Optimized.jpgpic2-Optimized.jpgpic1-Optimized.jpgpic4-Optimized.jpg
i simply measured (measure out from wall to halfway on tank...make sure holes are above edges of tank), marked out, drilled and inserted ceiling plugs, then the hooks. the ability to move the aqualight mounting points means that i had a little room for error, but i tried to get it as dead centered as i could.
then i simply screwed in the picture hooks to the coralife mounting leg - mounting points. the hooks when tightened will hold the mounting points tightly and exactly where you place them.
then it was simply a case of running the wire between the two points in the ceiling and the four points on the light, looping the wire around the picture hooks and securing with the wire clamps. the wire clamps allow you to go around the fixture, tightening one at a time till all is level and taught.
i think all in all, it was a pleasing little project, i might make a few aesthetic changes, but for the dollar i laid down for it, i think the outcome is fairly stunning!
any comments/suggestions for improvements are appreciated! (i thought about simple, heavy duty 'L' brackets from the wall to suspend from, but i couldn't find any that were "just so", so i went for the simpler and quicker option...i may....scratch that...almost definitely WILL change my mind down the line and end up going for the
brackets ;-) )
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