Happy wife floating ecotech light canopy

[Jaredtexas]

Well after setting up the new red sea tank a couple months ago I keep getting some crap from my wife with the lighting situation. We just built a new house which has a very modern look and apparently, I screwed up because "the lights I choose look terrible"......

now I can't complain and say Shes wrong...... Ecotech's hanging solutions are not the best and the lighting kit that actually sits on the aquarium has the worst engineering. I have many complaints about the kit, but my number one complaint is the dang things bows pretty bad in the middle from the weight.

picture from this morning

So then I was told "you're and engineer can you not figure out a better way to hang the lights?"






two beers and a few hours later I found a better way to hang the lights.

So here is my design for the assembly. It's going to be machined from billet aluminum and attach to a consolidated canopy. It will give a very modern feel and the anchor arms are like 1" thick aluminum by 4" so it would be able to hold my entire family lol. The fact that it's so strong I can put the arms super close together and walking from all angles except directly 90 degrees it will still appear as its floating and the wire holes in the plate will run between the arms hiding those also.

I plan on getting one of those HDMI wall kits at Lowes and putting it behind the plate and fishing (no pun intended) the wires down the wall

I am going to update this all week to show the machining process and the instillation.

CHEERS!

 

[Saltyreef]

dang....what % abv were those "beers".

You're a king!

 

[Jaredtexas]

dang....what % abv were those "beers".

You're a king!

Hahaha, shiner cheer and my work computer made it happen. Just have to lay the tool paths down for the aluminum and hopefully I’ll be machining tomorrow

 

[Greg P]

Is your design going to be open topped?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Come on, tell us the truth....only two beers!

Looking fantastic. Can't wait to see this come together.

 

[FMF0331]

Very indiscreet way to let the R2R family know you're an engineer ..

Just Kidding, wonderful idea. Looking forward to the end product.

 

[Rmckoy]

Very impressive !
following along to see the process take shape .

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Going to be nice. Following

 

[Jaredtexas]

Is your design going to be open topped?

It’s going to have a door on top that seals flush with the top. You won’t be able to tell there is a door unless you look up top. I haven’t decided if I am just going to do exhaust vents or actually use fans at the top……

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Probably better than my first instinct of 'dump the broad'.

 

[Jaredtexas]

Very indiscreet way to let the R2R family know you're an engineer ..

Just Kidding, wonderful idea. Looking forward to the end product.

Being an engineer sucks. Not a fun job. My wife has seen me do some crazy stuff over the years. Anything she thinks I can do for her she throws that in there. It’s a curse because I love a challenge. I’m just to lazy to do it because I want it to look better lol

 

[Greg P]

My 'pseudo canopy' quickly filled with moisture when I forgot to plug the exhaust fan back in after having the canopy on the floor for overflow mods.
Had to replace all the hinges.

I use a couple desktop PC grilles for the inlets and a very quiet 120mm PC fan for exhaust. A ring of plex holds a piece of fiberglass screen to keep jumpers away from the blades.

 

[Jaredtexas]

My 'pseudo canopy' quickly filled with moisture when I forgot to plug the exhaust fan back in after having the canopy on the floor for overflow mods.
Had to replace all the hinges.

I use a couple desktop PC grilles for the inlets and a very quiet 120mm PC fan for exhaust. A ring of plex holds a piece of fiberglass screen to keep jumpers away from the blades.

I think this is going to be a trial and error thing. Since mine will be floating 8 inches above the tank and not sealed right above the water line… I hope it’s enough space to not have that issue

 

[Greg P]

Yes, definitely trial and error. Moisture rises with heat, so up goes the water to your lights.
My T5 unit has a plex cover and has never interfered with light penetration. You could forego the fan/vent idea and cover the base with plex. This will also protect your lights from splashing/jumpers etc.

 

[Greg P]

My ATI Powermodule uses what looks to be 5mm and it sags a bit at the end where it's not supported - slides out for bulb changes.
Make sure to support it well if you go this route, otherwise it'll become unsightly if it droops into view and probably would glow. Not the cleanest looking open top

 

[Jaredtexas]

Yes, definitely trial and error. Moisture rises with heat, so up goes the water to your lights.
My T5 unit has a plex cover and has never interfered with light penetration. You could forego the fan/vent idea and cover the base with plex. This will also protect your lights from splashing/jumpers etc.

It sounds a lot like no matter what option I choose I’ll be adding a fan lol unless I ditch the top……. I might ditch the top.

 

[Greg P]

Another thought would be to mount the lights to the wall as you mentioned, but then to mount the box to the wall separately for easy removal

 

[Greg P]

It sounds a lot like no matter what option I choose I’ll be adding a fan lol unless I ditch the top……. I might ditch the top.

If light spill upwards isn't going to be an issue I'd ditch it. The lights will fare better.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Looks great. Is there a way to make it thinner for a more modern minimalist look? Height just enough to encase the lights and still allow them to vent naturally with the top fans?

 

[Rockhead]

I like where your head is at. I used 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 tube steel as a way to hide wires and give you the floating look still.