Got my LED's and time for a canopy build and light hanger.

[Bajamike]

Well I got my LED's today after a battle with UPS (wont ever use them again). I got the white caases and for the most part I like the look it is different than what you see.

So I got started on my light hanger build. I have never seen a hanger option that I care for. I wanted some thing clean strong and something that would blend with my home. so of to lowes with a idea and not much else. This is what I was able to come up with. Found a 1 x 4 that was 72" that was perfect for my 125. Then walked over to plumbing and found a 1/2" ground mount thing, then some PVC and an adaptor. I figured I could just rebuild the pipe as I lower the lights. and it gave me the clean simple look I was going for. Take a look at the pictures.

Everything I have read and people I have asked said to put these lights 16" to start and lower them. how much and how often do I want/need to lower them?

To be honest dont like the lights right now my MH's lite up the tank better. I think there are 2 factors though. 1 the lights are so high that much of the light is wasted in to the room. 2 I dont have a canopy to direct the light in to the tank.

Going to start the open top canopy build tomorrow night I'll be sure to share hope you like what I have done, I know I do. still needs painted. ( could only do 5 photos)
View attachment 3993 View attachment 3996 View attachment 3997 View attachment 3995 View attachment 3994

 

[aztecdreams]

Tagging along to see how you feel about the lights. What did you think of the color?

 

[amonchak]

Did u get the 20 k or the 14 k?

 

[Bajamike]

Tagging along to see how you feel about the lights. What did you think of the color?

dont know yet.

Did u get the 20 k or the 14 k?

I would have to read about them

14k btw

guess this shoulda been in diy

 

[Bajamike]

built the canopy tonight I liked the way it turned out. Still needs paint and the details buttoned up. Hope you like how it turned out.
[attachment=60461:name]

 

[Craigar]

How do your doors on the canopy work

 

[Bajamike]

They swing up they have less than a half inch of clearance between my lights at their lowest point. Its not perfect, if I was to do it again I would tighten up the gap on the crown molding. I was not sure how the doors where going to swing if the molding would bind so I left a bit of a gap.
[attachment=60465:name]
Took a few pics just a real simple hinge on the top of the frame and door. Dont have the tools to counter sink the hinge so the crown serves as a way to hide the hinge from veiw and ads a nice detail to IMO

 

[Boogie]

I like the canopy. Would have taken me two weeks and at least one trip to the ER to pull that off.

 

[Bajamike]

I like the canopy. Would have taken me two weeks and at least one trip to the ER to pull that off.

Thank you. I built it in 3 hours you would be able too as well. I had a boss tell me once "keep it simple stupid" Now I use that everyday. This is a very simple canopy.

 

[Bajamike]

well got all the little details buttoned up and got everything painted. Also lowered the lights 4 inches looked as though my corals where starting to reach for the light.

So what do people think?

Also took a few fun pictures
[attachment=60480:name]

 

[amonchak]

Looks good.

Are the LEDs the 20 k or the 14 k color? And those are the eBay lights, correct?

 

[Bajamike]

14k, ya eBayers

 

[Cake_Boss]

Looks good. Do the lights get hot? Are they quiet?

 

[Bajamike]

Lights dont get hot at all. The fans make a little noise but there is nine of them lol.

 

[aztecdreams]

How are you liking the color of the LEDs? Notice any difference with your corals?

 

[Bajamike]

I made some other changes as of late and added more rock....so I think I need to lower them again ( at 12" now). I was liking them until I added the rock now it seems dark.

 

[Wicked Color]

Very nice!

 

[dv3]

looks good!

 

[Bajamike]

Looks good. Do the lights get hot? Are they quiet?

After reading the "custom canopy" thread and he was saying he had some heat issues. I had bad heat issues with my MH lights and I wanted to avoid any extra heat from the lights. Thats why I built the open top canopy. but I did wounder about heat from LED's I did not think that they would throw off much heat. The nice thing about 303's build he can open the eclipse shade and release heat as well. My tank now never has even a 1 deg. swing its always 77.3-77.6 does not change. It seems as though my inverts are way happy, and my corals dont close as much. I dont know if its due to lower light (over 3 250w and 2 150w MH) or steady temps. Any way I would recomend the open top style canopy or one that could easly open.

 

[Cherub]

Very nice, Virgil showed me this post the other day. I am so stealing your light mounting idea Hope you don't mind hehe. My lights just sit ontop of the glass lid and I hate it.