Ideas for mounting 150w or 250w HQI

[bsk997]

Hey guys,

 

I'm setting up a 30g cube this weekend and was hoping I could get some ideas on how to get some halides over the tank.

The Oceanic 30g Cube's dimensions are 20.5" x 18.5" x 21.5" so a single halide should cover it quite well.

 

One option is to mount a 250w HQI pendant above the tank using some type of L board. The only thing is I don't know how good it'd look and don't know how stable it'd be. I've comtemplated using either wood or some metal posts for this idea.

 

 

Another idea is to build a reverse U out of some thin wood boards and then add an additonal piece of wood at the two ends to hold the piece of wood up and mount the pendant to. I don't think this would be the best looking option but could be the easiest.

 

 

The third option is to use my current 36wx2 via aqua hood and mount a 150w hqi in it since it'll be closer to the water. This would probably be relatively easy to mod and put over the tank. There's a glass top for the tank and I could easily put the hood with it's legs on top of the glass. It'd be about 4-5" above the water. I thought 150w hqi would be good enough for this option since it's closer to the tank?

I also have a 96w hood that I could do this to also.

 

I would ideally like to get the 250w aquaconnect 14k bulb but they're sold out and not likely to get any in for awhile. My 2nd choice would be the 14k hamilton setup with their pendant and ballast. I would like to choose a setup that doesn't need actinics. Just want something simple. I'm not that handy of a person and don't have a lot of tools available so keep that in mind.

 

Anybody have ideas or thoughts?

Thanks

[MrKrispy]

Here is my initial setup. I now have the pendant hanging from the ceiling.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=28907

[Undertheradar]

just like how krispy has it you could also use a piece of conduit, bent it where you desire to make the 'L' and paint it black.