rgulrich
Active Member
I'd been wanting to remove the canopy from my 300 for a while. It was seeming to always get in the way when I needed to mount a frag or remove a mature colony. I'd have to remove the light fixtures to access the reef (luckily I had mounted them on pocket door casters and could roll them out...). There were simply some places I couldn't get to with the canopy in place, and the canopy with all the light fixtures mounted not only weighed a heck of a lot, it simply made life awkward working on the reef.
The problem:
So I decided to get things out of my way and build a "floating" light canopy. I went through a number of design ideas, and decided to use a supported cantilever using linear actuators to raise and lower the light rack. I went through a lengthy design process and initially settled on using two linear actuators. They more than supported the weight of the assembly, but torqued the light frame a bit - to the point where I used a couple support cables to level it out. They're pretty much invisible in this picture, but they're in line with the actuators.
So, I spent time thinking about how I wanted the end product to look and function, and decided to pick up a couple more linear actuators to level the load across the frame members and eliminate the cables. I figure while I was installing these I'd clean up the wiring mess a little bit (still a work in progress...) while things were disassembled.
So I decided to spend my day finishing up the "floating" light rack and whatnot to where I wanted it to be. I partially disassembled the light rack by removing all the lights, removing the light rack from the actuators, and finally removing the two actuators. I then removed the two supporting T-slot pieces from the cantilever/support and installed the mounts for the two new additional actuators.
Well, that's that. Oh, and then I had to mount the T-slot support again, mount the actuators, calibrate them, connect the light frame (I worked on it a bit while it was disassembled anyway, what the heck, right?), and then remount all the lights.
Here's a few pics of the process and final assembly...
The now four actuators mounted and calibrated.
The finished product. Look, no sparks and flames!
The last end cap going in place on the T-slot.
From behind the reef.
From beside the reef.
View from the doorway...
This has been a blast working on this, with lots of sweat (we had the fireplace going like a furnace today for practice, I think...) and lots of satisfaction with the results. I can now adjust the height of the lights to where I want them (for even spread of PAR), remove the weight of the lights and canopy from the top of the aquarium, and get things out of the way when I want to work in the reef by raising and lowering the light rack - from 360' around it.
I've been having fun!
I hope all of you have been, too!
Cheers,
Ray
The problem:
So I decided to get things out of my way and build a "floating" light canopy. I went through a number of design ideas, and decided to use a supported cantilever using linear actuators to raise and lower the light rack. I went through a lengthy design process and initially settled on using two linear actuators. They more than supported the weight of the assembly, but torqued the light frame a bit - to the point where I used a couple support cables to level it out. They're pretty much invisible in this picture, but they're in line with the actuators.
So, I spent time thinking about how I wanted the end product to look and function, and decided to pick up a couple more linear actuators to level the load across the frame members and eliminate the cables. I figure while I was installing these I'd clean up the wiring mess a little bit (still a work in progress...) while things were disassembled.
So I decided to spend my day finishing up the "floating" light rack and whatnot to where I wanted it to be. I partially disassembled the light rack by removing all the lights, removing the light rack from the actuators, and finally removing the two actuators. I then removed the two supporting T-slot pieces from the cantilever/support and installed the mounts for the two new additional actuators.
Well, that's that. Oh, and then I had to mount the T-slot support again, mount the actuators, calibrate them, connect the light frame (I worked on it a bit while it was disassembled anyway, what the heck, right?), and then remount all the lights.
Here's a few pics of the process and final assembly...
The now four actuators mounted and calibrated.
The finished product. Look, no sparks and flames!
The last end cap going in place on the T-slot.
From behind the reef.
From beside the reef.
View from the doorway...
This has been a blast working on this, with lots of sweat (we had the fireplace going like a furnace today for practice, I think...) and lots of satisfaction with the results. I can now adjust the height of the lights to where I want them (for even spread of PAR), remove the weight of the lights and canopy from the top of the aquarium, and get things out of the way when I want to work in the reef by raising and lowering the light rack - from 360' around it.
I've been having fun!
I hope all of you have been, too!
Cheers,
Ray
