How to mount a 6ft lighting system without hanging it from the roof??

i have a 6ft tank and am wanting to have a MH lighting system ontop of it. problem is i cant hang it from the roof as the house is rented. i dont want to just have it sitting ontop of the tank as it will heat up the lids too much so i want it elevated. i was thinking some 2x4s running from front to back of the tank with 1 inch over hang on the front and back so the pressure isnt on the central supports but rather straight down on the front and back glass panels spread out.

would this work or would it be too heavy for it to hold safely.
i only want the 2x4 supports to be placed where the central braces are (2 of them) so that i can still open the lids easily.

any ideas?? thanks

 

The way to do it with the least amount of work and expense would probably be to just install it from the ceiling, making sure to anchor it to studs. Assuming your ceiling is plaster or drywall, you can repair the holes easily when you remove it with drywall mud, and paint over it.

 

Ya the ceiling is the easiest way but there is a trick people with nano tanks often use. Im not sure this will work on a 6 foot tank because the lighting fixture is very heavy im guessing. But anyway what alot of people do is take a metal bar from home depot or something and get a pipe bender. They make a bend in it so the bar goes straight over the tank. They then attach the vertical part of the bar to aquarium stand using u shaped pipe clamps. It ends up looking like an upside down L if you can visualize that. Hope this helps.

 

I think those are made of conduit (b/c conduit is bendable) which would be too flimsy for a heavy fixture, IMO. Of course, you could probably create something with a heavier duty pipe, but it would not be very bendable... then you could use fittings to create the shape, however.

 

what about my idea with the wooden 2x4 along the center braces?? any thoughts on that? id really rather not put holes in the roof as the owners are pretty narky about anything!

 

just something to think about you say the house is rented.

i would make sure your electical out let can handel it. can the line or circuit of the wall plug handle it.? mh ballast draw 2-3 amps each plus all the other stuff you have pluged in you will probley need aleat a 15amp beaker on that outlet to be safe.that running 3x150 or 3x250's i know of someone who set up his 150g and just pluged all his stuff in lights, filter pump,powerheads,
uv and the house caught on fire. the circuit was overloaded. he had his stuff running of a 10amp circuit.

be carefull

 

I have mine on top of my open canopy with some wood across holding it up. Its about 10'' off the water.

you could chock it up with 2x4's or something on each end and you should be all set.

 

i dont think that will be a problem i am only running 1 pump for the retun which is 70 watts and 1 for the skimmer 36 watts plus 2 x internal power heads one running at a time 22watts, 1 300watt heater and 3 150MH all totaling 878watts
so with 10A * 240V = 2400W and 80% safe usage is 1920W i am well under the limit

i dont think it will be a problem especially as the heater isnt always on and the lights are already being used they are just separated. i am wanting to get a system that looks better and is more functional than it is currently. but i think ill go with the 2x4s to hold it up.

thanks for the heads up ill double check on the amps usage and ensure my breaker is correct for it

 

Yes, watts are a conversion of amps. It's Amps times Voltage = Wattage.

 

You cannot convert watts to amps, since watts are power and amps are coulombs per second (like converting gallons to miles). HOWEVER, if you have at least least two of the following three: amps, volts and watts then the missing one can be calculated. Since watts are amps multiplied by volts, there is a simple relationship between them.

that is what i was saying and then i edited it because it was more simple to put it that way