OK, so I forgot the pre-pics.
Imagine this. The 61" aquatic life fixture installed using 4 of the wall mount adjustable arms that they sell. Not the nice clean looking ones, but the old style with the round rods that stick out from the wall plates about 16". Then you have 3 hydra 32s in it. One with a shade installed and 2 with DIY prism for some better blending of the light.
OK, now that you have that. I will change subjects.
@Crabby48 knows how long I have been meaning to do this lol. I moved the supprts for my returns to where the thing is actually somewhat level and you cannot see as much of it. The "tee" was very noticeable and now it is not.
OK, back on track here. I mounted the lights to the shelf after I went all draw happy to get the lights exactly where I wanted them with the shades installed. I then figured out how far in from the side and how far in from the front of the lights the mounting holes were. From there I made a template that allowed me to mark the board to where the front edge of the shade met the front edge of the shelf. The shelf is not as deep as the tank, as I want to still be able to move rock or add rocks, if needed.
Once the template was correct, traced onto the shelf, the screw holes marked, I drilled holes the exact size as the 10/32 bolts. After that, I used a counter sink bit to where the head of the bolt was recessed. From there, I attached the lights with jam nuts at the shelf and the light.
I then routed all of the cabling for the lights onto the shelf. I used some zip tie feet that are proably 10 or so years old. Maybe older, as I have been out of the field for that long lol. I still has come short wood screws from that time also. They are special order screws used to mount boxes under registers in retail stores. Short enough to not bust through the cheap crap they use for the fixtures, but long enough to bite.
Once all that was done, the shelf brackets were mounted and then the shelf.
The view from the couch no longer blinds anyone. I also removed the prism sheets, as the lights are at 10.5" from the water and with 2 gyres, 2 mp40s and 2 mp10s, the water moves just fine and there is no need to blend the light at that height. Only reason they were so low previously was due to the T5 blinding everyone. T5 not needed at this time, as rock structure is almost dead center of tank and not growing SPS on sand or behind rocks lol.
Par is still 150-180 on sand, 200-260 mid rocks and 250-400 up top. Lights are only at 65%, so still room to move them up if needed. Luckily tank has been without T5s for over a month and lights ramping up over that same time. They still have to get to 75% peak, but that will not happen until end of next week.
Either way, crap ton done today. Still have to move the biocube contents to the nem tank, but Damian is home for easter and has a task for me. He is having a ton of friends over and wants wood for a bonfire. So off to the woods I go to cut some ones laying for a year up.
I will snag a full tank, stand and shelf pic once wife gets the shelf how she wants it and I put the stand back together. Until then, have fun. I am off to be a lumberjack lol.
