Xmetal's 50g show

I order a 36" 6-bulb tek light a week ago and should arrive tomorrow. I had to build legs for it.

Well, I don't want to hang my new 36" tek lights because I will be upgradfing from a 50 gallon 0" long tank to a 75 gallon 48" tank. The 75 gallon will be moved slightly to the right and the center of the 50 will not be the center of the 75. Since the fixure is 36" I cannot buy the expensive legs that they sell...nor would I even if the fixture was 30" long. As a fix i decided to build legs for the light. The legs will be wrapped around the lip of the tank and attached to an old splash guard that will fit into the tek light.

Materials:
5: 5/8" x 4" x 4" acrylic
2: 1/4" x 4" x 4" acrylic
2: .1" x 12 x 4 acrylic
5oz tube of Weld-on 16

Step 1:

Measure the height and width of the lip of the tank. Mine was 1/4" high and 1/2" wide.

Step 2:

Measure and cut all pieces of acrylic to the desired lengths. I will be using the 5/8" acrylic as the main support and the 1/4" acrylic as the hooks for the lip.



The acrylic with the paper cover is going to be cut into 16 1" x 1" pieces and used to add additional support to where the legs attach to the .1" thick acrylic sheet. The pieces with the blue cover will be used to help stop the bending of the .1" acrylic.

Step 3:

Don't break the dremel. Fortunately, I was able to open it up and tinker around with it to fix it.


Step 4:
With the dremel fixed, continue cutting the acrylic.

Steps 5 and 6:

Weld the main leg brace to the 1/4" acrylic you just cut. Allow the weld to set and dry. Weld the 1" x 1/2" x 1/4" acrylic onto the 1/4" acrylic lip.



The 4 pieces shown in steps 5 and 6 will sit on the lip of the tank. There will be two on each side of the fixture. More photos updates when the lights arrive.

 

After a minor set-back of one of the legs not fitting into the fixture as planned and a little dremeling, the lights are on the tank. I expected more of a hassle. but they fit perfectly and the fixture was centered right off the bat. The overhang isn't that noticeable either. Please excuse the cloudy water. I was moving things around that don't like a lot of light.





BTW, holy s*** are these bright. The boss wanted to know if she could use it for tanning.

P.S. my camera made the lights look really blue. They are not that blue. More of a whitish red with a hint of blue. The aforementioned boss will take a good photo tomorrow. I am camera dumb.

 

Looks GREAT!!! Your legs worked out wonderfully and the lights look awesome on your tank!!

 

Thank you very much. It went to well. I must have missed something lol.

 

Haha, nah, give yourself some credit - you did a great job!

 

New Clam:



Frog spawn:

 

looking great. keep up the good work

 

Thank you

 

This is a great looking tank. Keep it up.

 

Come tomorrow everything should be in a 75G RR

The store charged 100 for it. From seeing other WYSIWYG prices I feel I paid a reasonable price for it. The brain was 6" in diameter and was exactly what I had been looking for for a long time.