hanging light fixture

[genzod66]

I Just Got A 72 Inch Outer Orbit Light 250 Mh And T 5 Combo,remote Ballast,well It Comes With A Hanging Kit,the Thing Is Almost As Wide As My Tank,cant Get My Arm In There,plus Comes With Sucky Legs,anybody Mount A Fixture To Ceiling,should I Do It?should I Use Their Hardware,comments,suggestions??

[fatman]

The typical hanging kit is set up to either be attached too ceiling joists or attached too electrical boxes, or possibly for use with just sa few toggle bolts. Often times the safest and nicest looking method is to cut a nice looking board and stain and finish, or paint it, to match nearby furniture or trim. Then attach it to the ceiling and attach the hanging apparatus to it. By using the board it does not matter if you install it parellel or perpendicular to the ceiling joints because with the mounting board you have a much increased area ifor attachment with toggle bolts or expanding anchors, where as the mounting other wise can possibly be pretty weak if ceiling joists are not where you want them. It doesn't really look to nice to have a multi thousand dollar reef tank with a light hung by crooked and off set cables. It is nice to have them hanging straight and evenly spaced from side to side. Especially if the tank is also a center piece or eye catcher in the room, as they often are.

Extra cables, straps or ties that can hold the light fixture pulled out of the way are also nice.

Also when using the hanging kit it is often necessary to hook the power lines for the lights to a bracket or something to keep the tension from the wires weight from causing the lights to hang at a twisted angle. AquaLight does make a special cable accessory bracket for this also.

[genzod66]

thanx,anyone else

[Tonz of fun]

I know exactly what youre going through. I have the same light. PM me.

[genzod66]

ok so how many inches off the tank should i hang light,so it looks good,and can access tank?10 inches??

[Frankie]

Got a picture of the hanging equipment? Did it come with a collar ring for the ceiling? It cannot be so heavy that a few toggles cannot handle. I would plug it in and hold it over the tank. Look at the lighting in the tank and figure out how the spread is within the tank for best coverage. Just the MH's mind you. There will be a cross spread from them. The higher you go the more it spreads out. The lower you go the more focused and you will start to notice a shadow in the center from the light not spreading. Here is a link to a thread that has pictures of what i am talking about. Read the whole thing. You will learn a lot about height adjustment.
Reefkeeping's Product Review - Reefkeeping.com

[fatman]

The light height is customarily based upon the types or organisms kept in your tank and not so much on appearnce. The type of bulbs as in the K values and whether it is HQI or a SE bulb and even the brand can make a huge difference in the light supplied with the fixture at different heights. If it is a fixture one would assume it would come with legs that provide for a 24 inch by 24 inch spread. An Aqualight is deigned aledgedly for 5 inches above the tank rim for narrow tanks and 7 inches above the rim for wide tanks. At least I believe those are the two sets of leg heights available. It is customary to expect the lighting at the tank sides and along the front and edge to be some what less intense and therefore dimmer in appearance. But the leg heights above are for a general set up likely designed with a mixed reef in mind (as that is the most common type Reef tank in use).
I would suggest you post a list of the types, species of corals you plan on using and the exact fixture type with bulb types if known. It was common for a long while for manafacturers to supply 10000K bulbs but quite a few fixtures are now starting to come out with 14000K and occasionally even 20000K bulbs. If your intent is principally to keep fish then they would probably actually appreciate the light be further from the water, the same for most soft corals A very large number of the stoney corals, however, would prefer the lighting fixture be closer to the water surface.
The light does not have to be hung high enough to necessarily stick your arm in the tank without disturbing the lighting fixture as the lighting fixture can easily be pulled towards the rear of the tank when needing to access the front of the tank and vice versa.

[burning2nd]

hang that sucker... i have both of my sunpods hanging....

once it hung,, you can move it up and down its so so so sos much eazyer

[docjal]

I usually hang my ocean lights about 6 inches any higher and you get a nasty glare and need sunlasses in the living room

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by fatman

It is customary to expect the lighting at the tank sides and along the front and edge to be some what less intense and therefore dimmer in appearance.

That is such a counter productive statement. Why would you want the lighting to be less when you could have an even spread? I don't know whats customary in your tank but i personally want to get the most out of my lighting. I have many corals all around the edges of my tank that require just as much light as the ones in the center. Here's a picture of one side of my tank. You will notice my red monti cap in the bottom right side. That coral requires quite a bit of light to retaine its color. Also note the clam at the top. My point is why have an uneven spread when you can have an even one? My light bulbs are 20" from the water btw. This shot is just MH's.

[burning2nd]

agreed on the even spread. lights are centered, and space evenly spaced

[fatman]

Lighting fixtures do not supply even lighting. Both bulb type, reflector type, and bulb orientation has effects that cause different lighting intensities in different areas. Look at Joshi charts showing lighting distribution. There is less lighting on the edges, front back and sides and especially the corners. That is all I was implying, not that one should try to cause obvious darkness in those areas. It is just normal for tanks to have different lighting intensity in different areas. That is why it is often suggested that one buy or borrow a meter such as an Apogee meter to test the different lighting intensities at different places and different levels through out the tank. I have never seen a chart that shows a halide light putting out even lighting intensity through out a whole tank. It is quite possible that the perimeters of a tank can have adequate lighting for corals with high lighting needs, but it is also very likely that the lighting intensity is less there than in other places away from the perimeters. Coral placement and lighting heights should both be considered for a corals best welfare. They effect each other. I own 120 gallon tanks and an Apogee meter and there is not even lighting intensity in my tanks, and no reasonable height (low or high) above the tank have been able to produce even lighting.
This article by Joshi clearly points out what I am trying to point out. My readings in my own tanks seem to parallel his results quite well.
Advanced Aquarist Feature Article

[mps9506]

I think we are discussing two different points here.
First you do need to take into account the visual aesthetics of the light. Too high and it will either cast too much light around your tank and into your room or too low you end up with what looks like two narrow stage spotlights beaming into your tank. You have to take this in consideration at some level if you really want people to enjoy the visuals of your tank.

Second we are talking light distribution's effect on corals. Sanjay Joshi's "Anaylizing Reflectors" series of articles is great, and I actually choose my reflectors based on his articles for my mogul bulbs. But in my opinion for the most part, at least with the DE reflectors the results don't show anything surprising (mogul reflectors did show some interesting results with the lumenarc and parallel reflectors showing great light spread).
Because MH are a point light source nothing will cause perfectly even light distribution from an intensity view point. But I don't really think that is what the OP was looking for. Just looking for what will look best aesthetically.

[fatman]

I pointed out in my first reply that the information I was writing about wsa for the benefit of the corals. Visual for the human eye and usuable light to the corals are quite different. Saying hanging a light where it looks good can be taken just as easily as what geometric setting will look best. I know very little about such things. I have found supplying the needs of coral as primary in importance am I am willing to sacrifice some bit of possible viewing pleasure to do so. So I supplied information based on a corals needs, not on an ever changing possibility of what could look best. I did not supply the site link for mogul reflectors as I did not think suppling a multitude of links was neccesary to dhow here was a sound tested basuis for what I was writing. Yes halides in theory provide an even light intensity light out put, however reflectors do not reflect an even intensity light output.

[reefsmoker]

Originally Posted by fatman

I pointed out in my first reply that the information I was writing about wsa for the benefit of the corals. Visual for the human eye and usuable light to the corals are quite different. Saying hanging a light where it looks good can be taken just as easily as what geometric setting will look best. I know very little about such things. I have found supplying the needs of coral as primary in importance am I am willing to sacrifice some bit of possible viewing pleasure to do so. So I supplied information based on a corals needs, not on an ever changing possibility of what could look best. I did not supply the site link for mogul reflectors as I did not think suppling a multitude of links was neccesary to dhow here was a sound tested basuis for what I was writing. Yes halides in theory provide an even light intensity light out put, however reflectors do not reflect an even intensity light output.

Why batman I've got it!!

Mount retro-fitted lights on a painted black cut to fit piece of like 5/8 sub-flooring. Then you get some generic light fixture Assembly kit with a chain. So when you wanna give a bit closer light you can, then when viewing and working on the tank you can move the light up a few sets of rungs and WA-LA!