I have a 75-gallon flat-back hex tank to which I'm trying to affix lighting. The maximum distance that the feet of the light fixture will span is 50 inches. However, the problem is that the top of the tank is 53 inches wide.
One thought is that I could rest two feet directly on one edge of the top of the tank in normal fashion and the other end would rest on a wooden support three inches away from the edge. I would then dremel the plastic foot and the wood to keep the fixture somewhat level. This would allow full access through the glass top on one side, but restrict access on the other.
Another thought is that I could use two support braces on the top of the tank to rest the feet on, although that would tend to interfere with the operation of the glass top on both ends.
The tank is in the living room and to mitigate the flood of light coming off 500 watts of metal halides and 260 watts of power compacts, I'm thinking that I could velcro some thick, black fabric around the front and one side of the light fixture to cover the gap over the tank. The light fixture is black and so I think the whole effect would be that of a elongated black bubble above the wood covering the top of the tank.
HOWEVER... having said all that, my wife feels that this would result in a tank that is not adequately "living room pretty". What she would like to see is a hood matching the wood on the tank and stand inside of which I could mount the lights. Naturally, I envision the hood as having access doors, mounts for the ballasts, and a ledge to allow the lights to rest in a retracted state to gain full access to the tank. I have nowhere near the ability to make this myself and I'm not looking forward to spending who knows how much for a hood like this.
Sooooo... I'm hoping that someone here with a lot more experience has another option or some additional input as to how I can make all this happen. Any help would be appreciated.
Here is the link to a page showing the light fixture and also a few pictures of the tank to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.
Are your halides and power compacts in one fixture? I wasn't sure when I read your post. If they are, you can suspend the fixture from the ceiling using stainless steel wire. It will give it a clean, nice look. Depending on how low you set your light, you may not get that much 'flooding outwards'. There are even retractable kits for hanging pendants and fixtures. Check Marine Depot and HelloLights.
As for the fabric, I wouldn't put fabric right on the edge of the fixture. With the halides, those will slowly burn that fabric and create a fire hazard. If you still want to create a cover around it, try this. Get some sort of material that you can trace the outline of the tank with. I'm thinking egg-crate but not sure if you can buy it in a sheet that big. Once the outline is cut out, attach it to the top of your pendant. Then attach your fabric to the sides, leaving a good majority of the top still uncovered. This will still allow the heat to escape. If your pendant is smaller width and lengthwise to your tank, this should allow some room between the fabric and the pendant so it won't heat up.
Or if you don't want to attach it to the pendant, you can always suspend it separately from the ceiling.
Thanks for your help. The halides and power compacts are in one fixture that is fan ventilated. There is a link at the bottom of the post to a web page that shows the fixture if that is helpful. The two metal halide bulbs are under the central fan and are flanked by power compact tubes.
I've thought about suspending the light from the ceiling, but it's about 10 feet high and slanted. The wires would have to be pretty long and I don't know if I'd like the look. That is definitely one option, however.
I'm hoping that the fabric won't be at too much risk next to the metal halides. The closest the fabric would come is about 7 1/2 inches from the bulb. There is a cooling fan directly over the metal halides and the back and one side would be completely open. I'll probably install an additional cooling fan also. However, I really like the idea of using eggcrate to create some space and I have some extra laying around.
Lighting Mounting with/without Hood?
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