Please Help me Elevate my MH Fixture Without Hanging it

[Brvheart5]

Hello,

I have gotten a good deal on an Aquastarlight Fixture. This is a stand-alone fixture that is generally hung. This is going over my 55g. My problem is that I will NOT be hanging it.

Here is a picture of the fixture: Aquastarlight

The fixture will need to be elevated above the tank somehow. I know there is a general distance that is desired when it comes to the distance between the bulb and the water surface. I often hear 8 inches. If I could get away with about half that, it would be quite easy. This could simply be done by putting some type of spacer beneath the fixture.

In order to maintain 8", I will have to build (or have built) some type of legs. I figure that using acrylic as material for the legs would be the easiest. I was thinking of 2 possible designs: the first being an "A" shaped structure on each end. The apex would attatch to the mounting hole on the top end of the fixture. The issue here would be to make sure that the acrylic material does not cover the vents on the end (see picture in link). The second idea is a "V" shaped acrylic structure with the flat, level side down on the top of the tank, and the angled arms coming from the rear of the tank forward at an upward angle. At the top of the arms, there could be wire attatched to allow the fixture to actually "hang". If you can imagine what I am describing, congratulations, you are as imaginative as I am!

I appreciate your help on this subject. If there is anything that I'm not describing clearly, please let me know.

If there is anybody out there who is using a MH fixture without hanging it or mounting it in a canopy, tell me about it!

Thanks!

 

[reefland]

I have the aquaspace light which is close enough to what you have and its instructions insist the unit be no closer than 12 inches from the water surface. (I do have mine at 10.5 however).

In fact if you look at the datasheet for your fixture located at:

http://www.ab-aqualine.de/eng/datasheet ... RLIGH.html

It says:

Pay attention to the required minimum distance of 30 cm to the water surface!

30 Centimeters equals 11.811 Inches

 

[postenje]

If I'm not mistaken spacelights have a reputation for being rather warm? If this is the case I would be leery of anything plastic holding it up. Is the housing plastic or metal on these things?

How about metal plant hangers. They make a few different types. Some attach directly to the wall and others are longer and stick in the ground. If you have a butane torch or something similar you might be able to heat the longer styles up and bend yourself a decent looking stand. or.. you could do like i did and just mount them to the wall and hang your light in between them.

Maybe some metal pipe. They have fittings similar to PVC. You could build and "C" shape and connect them on the from so it doesn't tip over.

Maybe a metal shelf. you could hang it from the bottom and store your stuff up top.

 

[reefland]

They are very hot to the touch, the outter aluminium is the heat sink. It contains the bulbs and ballasts. However, the underside towards the ends are warm but not bad. That will likely be where you would rest it on something.

My father just got a Aquastarlight fixture (2x150 HQI) with moon light. He plans a building something to rest it on his tank as well. I'll post some pictures when it's done.

 

[postenje]

If I'm not mistaken spacelights have a reputation for being rather warm? If this is the case I would be leery of anything plastic holding it up. Is the housing plastic or metal on these things?

How about metal plant hangers. They make a few different types. Some attach directly to the wall and others are longer and stick in the ground. If you have a butane torch or something similar you might be able to heat the longer styles up and bend yourself a decent looking stand. or.. you could do like i did and just mount them to the wall and hang your light in between them.

Maybe some metal pipe. They have fittings similar to PVC. You could build and "C" shape and connect them on the front so it doesn't tip over.

Maybe a metal shelf. you could hang it from the bottom and store your stuff up top.

 

[Brvheart5]

Just an update:

I've actually had this hanging for some time now. I gave up on the ceiling-hanging idea. It seemed appealing at first. But My studfinder was giving some goofy readings. It detected a stud running parallel with the wall. But when I went to "screw" it, it wasn't there. It just got a little annoying, so I gave up on that. Plus I didn't feel like messing around too much with the asbestos.

What I ended up doing: Ended up at Orchard Supply and got 2 Wrought Iron shelf brackets. They are sort of a victorian/medieval design, black. I mounted them a few feet above the tank, onto studs that happened to be centered perfectly. I was going to use standard steel cable to attatch the light to the brackets, but it wouldn't look that nice. But then I found some black chain. It looks great actually. I hung the fixture using the chains with "S" rings at each end. Very simple and effective. Everything is very sturdy. The chains hold 35 pounds each, so the 15lb fixture is very secure. Everything including the light fixture is black. It actually gives a medieval/ dark ages look. Looks good. And of course now I can actually put a shelf there. Haven't done that yet. Thinking of getting a "smoky" colored piece of acrylic or glass. Then put some tropical-type stuff on top.

Actually the AB light is gone now. I really loved it, but wanted a way to add supplement lighting for dawn/dusk. Would have been great if it had the moonlight, but it didn't. So I now have a Hamilton hood, 2x175w MH with 2x110w VHO. It is elevated using acrylic blocks. It will house AB bulbs, same color temp as the AB fixture, so hopefully I will keep it's visual effect.

Thanks for the help. I was surprised to see someone find this thread after more than a month.

 

[Brvheart5]

by the way, the acrylic ends would have worked. The ends of the fixture really don't get that hot. I've been using the light or awhile, and don't find the heat issues people mention to be true. With open air all around, it actually doesn't get very hot. Mainly only the area around the bulb itself, top and bottom. You couldn't touch it with bare hands.
The great thing about the AB lights are their design. No fans. It's absolutely silent. Man I wish I had the step up with the supplement light.

 

[postenje]

just curious.. why did my reply double post??

 

[Brvheart5]

I was wondering the same thing

 

[reefland]

I don't see a double post. I see the original post and then you replied to yourself while making a new post. The typical double post happens from double clicking the SUBMIT button, or not waiting long enough (slow server) and hitting submit a second time. Neither of which happened as they are 1 hr and 44 minutes apart from each other.

So why did you do it?