Mounting a T5 or mix fixture

VR28man · Apr 23, 2019

So I'm building a new tank (more about that in a seperate thread in a few days), which I am thinking of lighting with a Hamilton T5+MH combo or a straight up T5 combo (e.g. ATI sunpower, etc.). (I've fallen under the influence of @jda , @BoomCorals , and other apostles of such lights. I currently have Kessils on a 30x13x8 which I'm OK, but not terribly satisfied with. I intend this tank to be a reef crest system with lots of flow and a few large acro colonies. I am also considering Orphek LEDs).

I've found that a 36" fixture is around 24 lbs and a 48" fixture around 30. (tank is essentially a 75G. BUT I'm not loading it up with corals, all of them will be in a central area, whcih is the only reason why I'm considering 36". Noting that the 48" Hamiltons are not much more expensive than the 36s, save for those that have two MHs instead of one).

What's the best way to mount such things? How high should I mount it?

The standard seems to be handing from the ceiling. I'm not so sure my wife would be up with that and and so I'm looking for alternatives.

One option is to get a rimmed tank I could mount a light directly to the tank, BUT 24-30lbs seems to be a bit heavy for a rimmed tank.

I think the VR28woman would very much like a full up canopy covering from the top of the tank to the light. This is a strong argument for a rimmed and or braced tank, to my understanding. BUT I'm also worried that this could be a heat trap.

Any thoughts people have would be appreciated.

Retro Reefer · Apr 24, 2019

It took some convincing to get the OK from Mrs Retro to hang my T5’s but I’m really glad I did, in addition to not trapping heat I like being able to easily adjust height to keep things happy or moving it out of the way for maintenance. Although I have done many canopies it makes me nervous to have all that weight sitting on top of a tank.. I currently have my Lights hanging about 12” above water

Steve Erekson · Apr 24, 2019

I was very nervous on hanging T5 units for years and never did, opting for tank mount situations etc. With my current tank I finally decided to hang the thing. I was debating hanging from a shelf over the tank and other things. Eventually I just bought some hook and anchor combos from home depot similar to this (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ceiling-Driller-Antique-Ceiling-Driller-with-Screw-875323/302020321) and hung it from some ratcheting light hangers that are commonly used for horticultural lights. It was a very simple install that is secure and extremely convenient being able to move the light up and down.

VR28man · Apr 24, 2019

Thanks! Yeah the install looks simple, but the thing is primarily her aesthetic thoughts, for better or worse. I found some pics online of what I'm talking about, I'll run it by her.

As an alternate, I may do instead 3-4 orphek light bars. Alternately, two Corallife dual t5 fixtures and two light bars. Not MH, but still hopefully not a bad choice for SPS.

VR28man · Apr 27, 2019

I've thought about it some more. In at least a few configurations, the tank is right next to a wall with fairly strong aluminum load bearing studs.

I recall that when I installed my TV mount, one side into different Al studs, the rated weight of the steel toggles was something like 75lbs each. At least some tank configurations I'm thinking of would easily allow me to anchor the mount into two different studs. It would torque the mount more because a mount to hold an aquarium light is not as direct as the TV mount could be, and therefore the mount would be torqued considerably more. But the 4" dual MH hamilton weighs 30lbs, or 15 lbs per stud, so I don't think it should be a huge problem...

That being said, my favored configuration is a peninsula configuration, which would require a different set up because I couldn't mount the fixture among two studs, and because it's mounted perpendicular to the wall and almost certainly results in considerably more torque. Hmmm.....