Killer T5HO deal

[budah_scott]

DYI legs for a 10g.

 

 

OMG MORE PICS!! omgomgomg This looks so much cleaner than the ghetto DIY wall hangers I used.

[jaydanevich]

It's adjustable too.

[WhiteShark]

I don't have that pink hue at all that some people have been talking about though?

[Bluesman1]

Legs and splash guard seem easy enough... But how hard would it be to make it two cords instead of one? (I have zero experience with that sort of thing)

[smirkis]

my friends 4 bulb 48" unit jus came in today. sweet packaging and lights are nice n bright. ill ask him to take pics n ill try to post them hopefully tomorrow. think im gonna order one for myself.

[i like fish]

 

I would get some washers between the top of the brackets and the bolts, it looks like the head is too small for the hole.

[reefernanoman]

yeah i guess so. I priced the 48" tek light( 4 bulbs) with lights included and it came out to more than $400 so I guess you can't beat this deal

Now they got the new nova extreme with individual reflectors 48" 4 bulb with moonlights and fan and timers for $286 at pet mountain shipped. I wonder i this was a better deal? Why do I keep breaking my head? you will always find a better deal later on anyways! at least i will get ati bulbs with the one from hellolights.

[iNanoReef4food]

So I wanted to share what I came up with in terms of legs for my 20H aquarium. Also, I used the idea of magnets from runyonh to create a splash guard. Here are some pictures

 

1. I went to Home Depot and bought 12 3" t-plates. I also bought some #8 x 1/2 metal screws. (You can buy larger plates depending on how high you want the light to sit.)

 

2. I decided that I wanted a total of four legs, so I stacked 3 plates per leg (the number of plates will depend on how much space you need to cover.

 

3. The next step is to completely disassemble the light. Make sure to remove the parts that hold the lights on the side before you start drilling holes.

 

4. Drill holes to your liking.

 

5 Here is a picture of what the legs look like.

 

6. After I fitted the legs, I removed them and spray painted them black.

 

7. While the legs dried, I went to Ace Hardware and had a piece of acrylic cut with dimensions 22 1/2" x 8 1/8". I added the magnets and everything fit perfectly. (Note that I originally bought my glass to be 22 3/4" long. However, the plexi glass will expand with the heat and cause the plastic to bow. I had to go back to the store and get a smaller cut to leave room for the glass to expand.)

 

8. After the legs dried (wait at least 24 hours), I reattached them to the light. Here are some pics:

 

 

I hope this helps anyone who cannot afford the TEK legs. Enjoy.

[05XRunner]

i would be worried that would slip into the tank.

[WhiteShark]

Wow, thats really nice but really close to the edge...Aren't you afraid the light could slip and go in the water?

[jamesnmandy]

it's not going anywhere guys, go grab three of those plates, stack them on top of each other, and try to bend them.....add to the fact he's got them so they fit the inside of the rim perfectly so theres no room for it to slide either way (except front to back), which is the only thing that would worry me, i would put a spot of hot glue just in front of and just behind the legs so that could not happen easily just to be safe i think, but other than that i like it, the flower pot universal bracket shown above looks a little nicer to me though if only because it is adjustable, but this is a nice DIY mod!!

 

planning on using the magnet and acrylic shield idea myself

 

acrylic is easy to cut guys, get a sheet big enough and buy a $7 cutter and cut and snap it yourself....i have even done it by scoring it well with a straight razor blade, but i suppose this seems like a daunting task to some so if they cut it for you ok.....it's just a pride thing to me, having done it all myself...you know...LOL

[iNanoReef4food]

Wow, thats really nice but really close to the edge...Aren't you afraid the light could slip and go in the water?

 

The 3 plates make a supper tight fit. That light is not going anywhere. Also, you can add black electrical tape or some type of protective rubbber to make the fit even tighter and avoid any slippage.

[evilc66]

I might suggest that anyone else looking to do the magnets for the spash guard use nickle plated magnets. The unplated ones will rust. Here is a good, cheap place for nickle plated rare earth magnets.

 

http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

[Sac_State]

it's not going anywhere guys, go grab three of those plates, stack them on top of each other, and try to bend them.....

 

actually, i would be worried about the part of the frame that those plates are attached too. it won't take much to cause that to flex, which in turn could cause the angle of one of those legs to shift...and then slip. it looks a bit sketchy, IMO. but hey, if it works for you then more power to ya!

[beachboy_ss]

My GF got me this light for christmas and was wondering if it will support SPS and clams in a 30gal cube. 20"x18"x18" or so.

[Sac_State]

which bulb configuration?

[WhiteShark]

Where could I buy a plain piece of acrylic from?

[Jakesaw]

i would be worried that would slip into the tank.

 

Me too.

 

I don't think it would be too difficult to add some metal - maybe epoxy two more pieces of steel at 90 degrees to form a bracket that goes over the lip of the lid.

 

The magnet plexi glass cover looks great though.

 

I might suggest that anyone else looking to do the magnets for the spash guard use nickle plated magnets. The unplated ones will rust. Here is a good, cheap place for nickle plated rare earth magnets.

 

http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

 

 

Is the nickel plating rust proof? If not - I wonder if you could use some epoxy to cover the entire magnet as a protective coating to shield the metal from saltwater.

[jamesnmandy]

Where could I buy a plain piece of acrylic from?

 

home depot or lowes to name major places and they cut to your desired size as well, any well stocked hardware store i imagine should have it

[evilc66]

Is the nickel plating rust proof? If not - I wonder if you could use some epoxy to cover the entire magnet as a protective coating to shield the metal from saltwater.

 

I wouldn't have recommended it if it was going to rust now would I

[Weetabix7]

I wouldn't have recommended it if it was going to rust now would I

 

Well you ARE evil.

[evilc66]

It's true, it's true

[rainydave]

I'm looking at adding moonlights to the 24" light that I just received. It's going to be hanging over my BC29. Would the 2 wide 4-LED Bars from MeasureExplorer be too much light? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=310111657844

 

Or, would something like this be better? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=170289217372

 

I'm leaning towards the MeasureExplorer due to the packaging of the lights. But, I don't want to have too much light.

[05XRunner]

i think it might make it a little bright..I just like a little bit of light in the tank just to give it a little bit of blue glow...I think 4 bulbs 2 on each side would be enough

[jamesnmandy]

I'm looking at adding moonlights to the 24" light that I just received. It's going to be hanging over my BC29. Would the 2 wide 4-LED Bars from MeasureExplorer be too much light? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=310111657844

 

Or, would something like this be better? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=170289217372

 

I'm leaning towards the MeasureExplorer due to the packaging of the lights. But, I don't want to have too much light.

 

i would also recommend a 4 led kit for a smaller shorter tank like your's

 

my 75 hex, 30" tall, with the measure explorer 8led kit

 

 

 

i got the one that has one led at the end of each lead so i could place them how i wanted, keep in mind even though they say water proof, after about 6 months three of my led's managed to get saltwater in them and fried them, i simply ordered some 5mm led's and resoldered and shrinktubed them, so what you see is 5 wide angle leds that came with it and 3 standard narrow beam blue leds

 

if you like to DIY and have a soldering gun and shrink tubing and multimeter i would recommend getting some stuff from here

 

http://www.oznium.com/led

 

and making your own, they also sell pre-made strip lighting, thats where i got the replacement leds