Carl_in_Florida Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 I thought I saw a picture of someone doing this but... I have an Eclipse 6 and there is no way I could build a hood (no tools, and how would i deal with the bow?). I want to do the ever popular regent retro but there is no wall behind the tank to hang it from. Has anyone just put legs on a Regent and put it over the tank? How does this look? With my wife, ghetto is not an option so I have to make it look decent. If I went this route, whould acrylic legs suffice or do you think that I should use something like aluminum? What do the diy gurus say? Link to comment
jmt Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 The legs would HAVE to buy some type of metal. Steel or aluminum probabaly. They (fixture) get HOT. To be honest, I would not do a MH on this tank. The heat is so high and the tank is so plastic. Not to say it can't be done, but the light needs to be a minimum of 6" off the tank. And non-ghetto DIY on DE bulbs is a PITA. If I was in your position, I would do 1 of the 2 things: 1) Buy a PC (Coralife?) set-up with the mounting legs. 2) Switch to an AGA MB7 Glass. I'm not trying to be discouraging at all, I just want to say that DIY with DE (HQI) bulbs is not as easy as it may look. In any case, good luck with it! -Justin Link to comment
qfour20 Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 If you use the regent pendant, the DIY is not as hard as jmt makes it sound. Go pick up a regent fixture and two 90deg elbows and a little bit of pipe. Put the tank on a piece of thick plywood (painted to match) with extra room behind the tank. Attach the mounting plate for the regent fixture to the plywood behind the tank. Run the pipe up and over the tank to hold the light. Good luck. -q Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 I wouldnt consider a 70watt overkill for a 6g...glazer had a 150 over his 7gallon bow...sure, he had a micro-chiller too, but it is possible. I took the '1x4 secured to the back of the tank's stand method', as you can see here...looks kinda stylin' if you ask me... mad it 30" tall with multiple sets of holes all up and down the board so I can adjust the fixture's height as I see fit... Link to comment
Carl_in_Florida Posted April 17, 2004 Author Share Posted April 17, 2004 When I first converted my tank the guy at the LFS said, "You'll burn your house down!" It's only been 6 months but all seems well but now I must have MH. I can't use the board up the back technique because of where I have the tank set up. As you can see in this photo which was taken before anything was in the tank, it is in on the counter between the kitchen and the dining room (mounting something to that wall is also not an option). That is why I was inquiring about the legs. The only other thing I came up with is maybe conduit mounted to something that goes under the tank? Anyway...please keep the suggestions coming! Link to comment
jmt Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 Sorry Carl, I didn't mean to come across as the regent MH being extremely hard. It isn't. I just meant all other DE DIY stuff isn;t so easy. When I was in your shoes (I had no wall to attatch to either), I thought up a thousand different options for this probabaly. Here are some of the best ideas: 1.) Attatch it to a chain or metal cord and hang it from the cieling. 2.) Build a stand that goes from the back for support. 3.) Make the kids take turns standign there and holding it over the tank . Personally, #3 is my favorite. -Justin Link to comment
CU_Reefer Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 How about taking a piece of 1/2 in plywood that is about 5 in longer than the tank is. Then go to your favorite hardware store and get a 3 in flange and some 3/4 in pipe and fittings. Attach the flange to the piece of plywood and the pipes to the flange to support the fixture. You should be able to do it with a couple of lengths of pipe and two elbows. The tank would rest on the plywood and keep everything in place and the fixture would be suspended over the tank. You could paint it so it doen't stand out that much and it would be easy to swing out of the way to do maintenance. Hope this helps Link to comment
qfour20 Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 Nice diagram. Exactly what I failed to communicate properly. -q Link to comment
Carl_in_Florida Posted April 18, 2004 Author Share Posted April 18, 2004 Hmmm. I am now thinking about getting electrical conduit, mounting it up the back, angled then suspending the regent. I think this might work. If anyone has done this please let me know. Carl Link to comment
jmt Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 Make a base for the bottom of the tank. On te left side of said base, attach conduit or wood to make a stand like CU_Reefer suggested. I think painting it the color of the wall (all of it) would look snazzy and the pipe/wood/choosen method to suspend the light, wouldn't stick out to much. To make the base, I would just trace the shape of the Eclipse 12 on a sheet of plywood, Then cut out the shape around it on a peice of plywood so that it fits inside. Stack 3 1/2" cuts of plywood on top of one another an attach. Then add some flexible trip to make it flat and paint it the color of your wall. Then attacth the brace to suspend the light with the mehod you shoose and paint it. -Justin Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 you mean like the pic I posted? Link to comment
jmt Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 Yes, similar. But in Carl's case, to the side of the tank instead of the back. Sorry I left you out . -Justin Link to comment
vyger Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=26901 I was going to mount this to the back of my stand for my 6 gal eclipse but since have modified it . instead of the long mounting pole on the back . I have gotten a shorter one and did away with the elbow on the bottom. I attached the flange to the bottom of he threaded pipe and am going to mount it to a piece of 3/4 in. plywood that I am gong to put under the tank. I will just make the plywood 4 in. longer in the back and put two bolts from underneath through the plywood and mount the flange to that using 2 nuts to secure it . All parts here are all 1/2 in. threaded black pipe from Home Depot, as the Regent fixture threaded end is 1/2 in and so is the flange that comes with it so you can screw into any of these elbows or threaded couplings and you can make the fixture any height you want using already threaded pieces of black pipe. In fact it will look exactly the same as CU Reefer's diagram above... Link to comment
Carl_in_Florida Posted April 19, 2004 Author Share Posted April 19, 2004 I went to HD and got some of the grey plastic conduit. I am going to place a piece of acrylic onder the tank sticking out an inch and a half that will have a flange bonded to it that will accept the base of the conduit. At the top of the tank I will put a bracket that will keep the pole from sliding to the side. I am going to be able to feed the wire down through the pipe and out of the base. That will keep it even cleaner looking making the wife happy. That should do it. I can't find my camera or I would post photos. Link to comment
vyger Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 here's how mine is going to work... for illustration I put it over an empty 10 gallon......heck I may not even paint it!!! Link to comment
Gujustud Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 By the looks of it, you've got about 10" of wall on the left side of the tank. Why not post up a 90' angle up on that side, and mount it from there? Link to comment
Carl_in_Florida Posted April 21, 2004 Author Share Posted April 21, 2004 vyger - mine will look similar but less basement like Gujustud - there is no way my wife would let me hang stuff from the wall. but keep the input coming! Link to comment
CU_Reefer Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Have you considered building it into a custom hood? You would have room to add some antics and moonlights. The hood would keep everything hidden and keep out pollutants. You would need some major ventilation to keep everything cool but you could get some cooling fans from old comp power supplies to cover that. Just a thought. Link to comment
Carl_in_Florida Posted April 21, 2004 Author Share Posted April 21, 2004 I would love to have a custom hood but I only have a hack saw. Not the makings for pretty cuts. Link to comment
Proost Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Well, I'm an newbie here to nano-reefing. Actually, I haven't started mine yet, still researching. But, I am a veteran DIY'er of many FW planted tanks. I did something similar to Vygers on several freshwater plant tank. Except I used electrical conduit and ran the power cords inside the tubing. That way I could simply bend the conduit to make the angles. Also, the conduit fittings fit the lighting threads perfectly. Conduit only requires a hacksaw for pretty cuts! Personally, for this application, I would do something similar to what to Gujustad suggested above, except run the support side of the angle all the way down the wall next to the tank and attach it with simple u-clamps. This way you could hide the cord inside the tubing and you would be able to swing the light out of the way when you need to do maintenance on the tank. I prefer to have the entire top space open when doing maintenance. then again, from my reasearch, reef tanks require a lot less frequent maintenance than a FW plant tank. I will try to post pics tonight. Thanks everyone for a great site! Link to comment
Vincerama Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...0&pagenumber=12 Halfway down the page.... This is my ghetto-ish setup. I had built a canopy for 2x36W PC, then I switched to the regent, so I built a simple wooden "Gallows" for it. The wood does not get hot at all. V Link to comment
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