Anyone put a pendant over a tank without ceiling hanging?

[Anonymous]

I don't want to hang this halide pendant from the ceiling. I was thinking mounting a plant hanger to the wall, but I don't want anything to happen. Is there anything that sits on the tank or on the floor that I can purchase or *easily* fashion up myself?

Looking for ideas and pics if you have them.

Thanks in advance.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

I do not have a picture, but I'm sure a shelf would work fine. I would be a nice place to keep the reef books and/or the ballast.

 

[Joew]

Yeah, picture a book case with the tank underneath and the pendant hung to the bottom shelf. Neat idea.

JoeW
_________________
us economic recessions

 

[Anonymous]

That's a neat idea.

 

[KoCook]

You could always modify a standing hat hanger or an existing light pole to hold a halide pendant over.
It would have to be balanced either by the base or a counterweight but I believe one could be DIYed.

 

[Anonymous]

The plant hangar would be good, as long as you make sure it hits a stud in the wall.

So a shelf might be better. You could span three or four studs and really get it anchored into the wall. If you'd use 2x8 or something, you could lag into it, or through bolt it and use T nuts on the upper side.

I wish I'd have thought of that when I had my little 10 gal on my desk.

B

 

[liquid]

The biggest question is: how much will this pendant weigh when hanging? I'd say if you mounted the plant hanger into a stud you could put quite a bit of load on it -- depending on the hanger employed.

Shane

 

[ChrisRD]

I've thought about using some PCV or conduit (with a slot cut in it so wires could be hidden inside) attached to the back of the stand. An upside down "L" shape extending out over the tank from the back. It could be spray painted black or whatever color matches the pendent/tank. It could serve both functions - hiding the wires and mounting the pendent. Seems like it would look pretty clean when finished but I've never tried it yet (might not work well for a heavy pendent)...

 

[Anonymous]

I do not think PVC would be strong enough. If you used steel pipe it would be fine thou.

 

[ChrisRD]

Yeah, you might be right on the PVC. I was thinking like 1-1/2" or 2" schedule 40 which is fairly rigid in short lengths. Still, I think the pendent would have to be pretty lightweight - like a remote ballast unit.

The steel would be the obvious choice except for hiding the wires. Not sure how you'd get your wires inside it without cutting a slot in the pipe (which would probably be tough with the steel) or cutting off plugs and rewiring. The PVC would be a lot easier to work with in that respect.

I bet some semi-rigid metal conduit or something similar exists that would be ideal for the application - just never looked into it...

 

[Anonymous]

Metal conduit does exist. You would have to cut off the plug and rewire. It's all screw fittings so no need to weld. Another option would be to tie wrap the cord to the pipe and have a sleeve to pull over it to hide the wires.

 

[Anonymous]

This is a remote ballast pendant, and the pendant itself is pretty light. I'll try finding a stud in the wall and using a black plant hanger to start with.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

They sell frames here for hanging MH pendants from, but they're pretty expensive (I paid the equivalent of $200 for mine). They should be pretty easy to make yourself though. Think of the moveable racks they use for hanging clothes from in clothing warehouses, but bigger.

 

[tgrindle]

I took 3/4" rigid conduit, use 3/4" condiut anchors, put a gradual bend in it until I got the correct angle. fastened the conduit to a stud in the wall . ran my wires thru the conduit to the ballast.
used a 1/2" eye bolt on the end and fastened two pieces of black chain to hold my pendent. lights are 9" above the top of my 80 gallon tank.
I have two 175watt 14 k's mounted on this

 

[Anonymous]

I took 3/4" rigid conduit, use 3/4" condiut anchors, put a gradual bend in it until I got the correct angle. fastened the conduit to a stud in the wall . ran my wires thru the conduit to the ballast.
used a 1/2" eye bolt on the end and fastened two pieces of black chain to hold my pendent. lights are 9" above the top of my 80 gallon tank.
I have two 175watt 14 k's mounted on this

This sounds neat...have any pics of it?

Peace,

Chip