Scouter

I know I would love to see some details! What's the housing made out of?
Thnks,
Scouter

mulita

That's really cheap for the whole item. I interest to know how was it built. I am not needing one now , just curious. it really look nice.

niko

Roof flashing - an L-shaped channel that you can find at any Home Depot/Lowe's.
Also inside there is a rectangular frame made of electric conduit - also at Home Depot/Lowe's.
The fiberglass mesh is a window screen that you can also find in HD/Lowe's. The frame for it is there too.

The rectangular frame is needed only if the tank is more than 4 ft. long. Drinda is 6' so it had to be there. It provides structural support.

If you have to make the rectangular frame imagine making a rectangle using 4 pipes. Then you make another rectangle using the L-shaped channel. Then you put rectangle 2 over the rectangle 1.

Here is another fixture that I made in a similar way:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ddasega/DaveS

Ask me more if I'm too unclear.

--Nikolay

niko

Mulita,

The price is indeed around $10 for the housing. But you end up paying more because you have to buy more material than you actually use. You know - you need 6 ft. of something but they sell it in rolls of 25' and so on.

--Nikolay

stuckintexas

niko! wow!

that puts my light to shame...

well, when i do the light for my 29G we will have to talk because i want to incorporate your hinge into the light.

texgal, thats a wonderful looking tank. nice danio.

lildark185

The light fixtures are truly amazing. What if all the wires from the light went into a cheap metal lock box and the plugs came out of the box, it'd simplify the cabinet under the tank. On TexGal's fixture, don't the hinges put a lot of stress on the frame of the tank when the lights are in an upright position?

rekles75

Great build I would like to try this on 2 55gal tanks.

niko

lildark185,

Drinda's tank has a lot of equipment in the stand. I didn't know if a box containing all 3 ballast will fit in there so I didn't buy a box. But in the past I have put a ballast in a box like the one you describe and it certainly makes things look more contained.

There is very little strain on the plastic frame when you open/close this big light fixture. I tested it many times on a thinner frame that gave in when touching with my fingers (55 gal. tank with the think black cheap frame). No issues whatsoever, I guess it's physics - a hinge movement doesn't produce much twist. Also big tanks like Drinda's have very thick plastic frame. As you may have seen from many posts that it's hell to remove the frame off a 10 gal. tank using knifes, plyers and a lot of effort. I can't imagine removing the frame off a tank like Drinda's.

Another thing is the overbuilt of American tanks. The glass is usually way thicker than it needs to be. I knew a LFS owner that literally stepped and stood on the edge of some of his tanks to service the tanks above them!

--Nikolay

taekwondodo

I put together a MH tanks using ballasts from ballastwise.com - I noticed that they have something very similar to the Advance ICN2S39 54 watt ballast... at half the price:

http://www.ballastwise.com/images/up.../DXE254HO5.pdf

Hmmm.... my diy itch is starting up again...

Now, If I can just figure out how to fit 4 of these (60" bulbs & Reflectors...) in with my 150W MHs...

supersmirky

That's amazing. I am guessing T5HO lights are better?? I currently have a setup like she used to have....PC lighting (6x96watts)