Creating your own moveable light rack

[concept3]

My tank hood is great. I have access to the front, not much of a problem. But it has always limited me when I want to clean certain parts of the tank. I had access, but now I wanted major access, or at least try. I remembered my thread on RC, and someone had added a sliding rack to facilitate access since he had a narrow tank. He borrowed my hood design, and added a slide rail for his halides. He gave me the idea, in an indirect way, but look at his version on the bottom of this thread here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=535632&perpage=25&pagenumber=8

I wanted to add it to my hood, because that extra clearance will come in handy when I need it most~

With NO PLANS in mind, I went off to the Big Orange Store for supplies:



I picked up:
12 inch drawer Bottom slide rail
Aluminum "L" thingy (see pics, I tossed the receipt)
Sheet metal screws 3/4"

For the T5's I was adding, I made brackets out of:
a few pieces of poplar 1 X 2 X 4 (they were on clearance for $0.50)
Aluminum FLAT thingy 1 X 0.25 X 4 feet(same, see pics, I tossed the receipt)
Sheet metal screws

What you'll need:
Metal cutting hacksaw
Grips or Clamp
Drill bits
Cordless drill



Now, I'm not one for step by step instructions, so here's a pictorial instead:

TANK WITH HOOD:

THESE LIGHTS ARE FIXED. NOTICE THE LOCATION OF THE VHO'S SIMPLY FOR THE "pop" IN THE TANK

 

[concept3]

DISMANTLING ALL WIRING/REFLECTOR

THE RAIL AND "L" BAR

READY FOR RE-INSTALL

 

[concept3]

THE DRAWER RAIL (BOTTOM MOUNT VERSION)

FITTING (Had to cut notch to fit in rail indent)

MEASURING "L" BRACKET MADE OUT OF ALUMINUM STOCK CUT TO LENGTH

INSTALLED

SLIDE RAIL COMPLETED.

 

[concept3]

SLIDE RAIL CLOSED. THE ALUMINUM L BARS WERE SIMPLY CUT TO LENGTH AND SCREWED DIRECTLY FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE SLIDE RAIL. THE FRAME WILL SEEM A LITTLE WOBBLY AT TIMES, BUT THE INSTALLATION OF THE LUMENARCS (later on) MADE IT MORE RIGID.

I HAD TO CUT THE REAR PARTS OF THE LUMENARC TO AID IN DEPTH MOVEMENT

before:

after:

THE LUMENARCS ATTACHED TO THE RAILS WITH SHEETMETAL SCREWS

BRACKETS TO HOLD THE WOOD FOR THE T5'S. THEY ARE ATTACHED TO THE LUMENARCS.

 

[concept3]

THE SLIDE RAIL CLOSEUP:

AND NOW THE FUN PART- WIRING AND SOLDERING.

 

[concept3]

Now, what I didn't know was that you couldn't fire 2 bulbs in series by themselves using the 4 lamp configuration, so after re-hooking back the VHO's temporarily, I did a test run. WOW. T5's ARE brighter than VHO's.

AFTER A FEW MODIFICATIONS,
THIS IS THE HOOD ALL THE WAY FORWARD: (where's the fans?)

AND ALMOST ALL THE WAY BACKWARD.... see the fans now? I now added an extra 8 inches of play space on the top of the tank, more if I cut the halide housings shallower, but have you tried hacking that thing with a manual hacksaw?!?!

I have to wait for the other pair of T5's to come in so I can complete the tank lights with the t5's. I didn't realize that my VHO's were 48 inches true, and the "48" inch T5's are actually 46 inchers! For now, the tank is running solely on 12k's.



SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!

....thanks to "headhsrink" from ReefCentral for showing me the idea on my thread

 

[Baxreefs]

Sweet light rack!

 

[1320wrx]

Nice looking light rack, how long did it take you?

 

[malulu]

a cool DIY project!

 

[concept3]

Sweet light rack!

thanks bax!

Nice looking light rack, how long did it take you?

Steve, I started right after I left the liquor store, but had to go back out again since I bought a 24 inch drawer (dunno know why?!?) and I needed a 12 inch rail; it was like 5 when I got back. I didn't get done until 1 am, but it was worth it. What took the most time was the cutting of the Aluminum and Halide housing since I had to do them by hand with a very very dull 8 inch hacksaw!