DIY "Floating" Recessed Light Fixture/Canopy

[RichtheReefer21]

Last time I was here I shared a fun and cheap HOB Chaeto Fuge...

This time, I am kicking it up a notch to produce a "Floating" if you will, light canopy.

The concept will be to hide the lights, as well as the mounts. All while maintaining a hinge feature which will allow me to simply lift up the canopy and it will fold back to the wall for easy access and tank maintenance.

A little background, I started out like a rookie with a fluvalsea marine strip LED. I then decided to Upgrade... For a FluvalSea Marine 3.0, strip. Idiot. Now, I have 2, 45" LED strips, BUUUUT... I have since acquired two Hydra 26HD's in addition :) So rather than spending another $600+ on matching lights, I am gonna wing it, like always! To save money wherever I can in this hobby.

Here is my current setup:

I was ok with it for all of 4 days... And then the wheels started turning...

Here was the first sketch I made on MS Paint. (Birds Eye view)

Nothing to scale there, just a rough idea of what I wanted to do.


So... A trip to Lowe's, and $21 later... Aaaannnnnnddd....

Action!

Paint goes on this week... maybe tonight. But i'm stopped at a Marina to shop Hardware that will last. I will share the design of the Hinge/Fold Back design once I have it all worked out.

More to come.

 

[DLHDesign]

Very cool!

Check out my build thread for a similar project I did for my tank.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Nice hanging one... mines gonna attach to the wall.

God ur build is insane. Wish I had the money to do something like that off the rip. DIY to save pennies for now :)

 

[DLHDesign]

It ended up attached on hinges and just used some wires to keep the front edge level - and more importantly; to hold it up out of the way.

I thought the first one was expensive enough, but the costs on the new tank keep adding up. Luckily, the wife is willing to have me spend money on getting all the "fish stuff" into a room of its own instead of all over the house/garage... DIY is a huge part of everything I do, absolutely. I'm not really sure that saves me any money (as it means time not spent working making money), but I enjoy it and it's part of my catharsis from daily life. So, DIY for the win! :-)

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Here's the plan... Hopefully will be done by the end of this weekend:

(More MS Paint Pro Sauce)

Not to scale.

Will post final Pictures when Complete and installed.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

@DLHDesign I am fairly confident I will need to put guide wires to the front corners like you did as well... Not sure the hinge-metal will hold the weight without bending... I could always spot weld some rebar lengthwise to re-inforce the hinge... Time will tell.

 

[DLHDesign]

I was going to point out that the weight of your fixture will be on those vertical screws between the wall and the hinges - which will have less grabby surface area (technical term) than the hinge screws. Guide wires would help with that area as well, though there are other options there too (side bracing, etc.).

For mine, the idea was that I would be able to "flip" it up as you have yours drawn. But (always a "but"...) once it was installed, I realized that I had forgotten about the beam above the tank. Ended up not having the clearance to lift it up to the wall anyways! The wires allow me to lift it up some and "lock" it in position - which is what I do when cleaning the tank. Not ideal and not to design, yet still functional... **shrug** Obviously, you have no beam to worry about. :-)

Looking good!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Thanks. Excited to get it rolling

 

[Crabs McJones]

Following along :D:D

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Following along :D:D

;Troll

 

[OriginalUserName]

Good plan! It's nice to see more folks avoiding those ugly wire hanging kits. I'm starting my light build this weekend.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Got off my tushy...

2 coats of latex killz. 48hr cure. Now 2 coats of exterior rustoleum semi gloss black to match the stand.

Got everything to wall mount... just trying to decide what hardware combo I'm going to use to mount the lights into the fixture.

 

[leahfiish]

Following!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Total cost is now at $76

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Alrighty. $82 total. Not perfect... but fit exactly what I had in mine for how it operates. No wire needed. For now the imbalance in the lighting will stay until I can sell the strips and install a 3rd hydra 26hd in the center, over all I'm happy with it.

Just need to tidy up the wiring hanging in the back and get my sump built and this will be one clean tank.

Somehow the wall mount brackets didnt end up perpendicular 90° but the canopy is level. Weird.

Not bad. Glad it's done and now I can tweak it a bit at a time.

Next up, DIY 55g 48x12x18 tank-to-sump conversion. Stay tuned.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

So sweet how I can just lift it up and rest it against the wall to clean the tank. Super happy right now.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Am gonna try to seperate parent and child for the hydras. . For some reason all of a sudden they are different colors even though nothing in the program changed... frustrated.

Nothing can ever just go smooth I swear.

 

[DLHDesign]

So sweet how I can just lift it up and rest it against the wall to clean the tank. Super happy right now.

This will be a huge advantage, for sure! One of the most frustrating parts of my canopy build was when I realized I had forgotten about the clearance and discovered I couldn't lift it all the way. I still work around it when cleaning the tank...

Good luck with the lighting; I'm sure it'll work out.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

This will be a huge advantage, for sure! One of the most frustrating parts of my canopy build was when I realized I had forgotten about the clearance and discovered I couldn't lift it all the way. I still work around it when cleaning the tank...

Good luck with the lighting; I'm sure it'll work out.

Thanks. Hopefully setting them individually after work today will fix them.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

@Crabs Mcjones

Whatcha think bub?