So, UPS reports my lights are on the truck for delivery. Time to get busy today, as I've been taking my week off to be more lazy than productive.
I don't know who originally came up with this idea, but I got the idea from another member of
GWAPA that shared with us how to do it, so I take no credit.
I'm hanging 2 36" TEK 4x39W lighting fixtures over this beast, and here's how I'm doing it.
Supplies (everything you can find at lowe's or home depot):
4 10' 1/2" electrical conduit tubing
8 "2 hole strap" (as they're called) to hold the conduit in place
Tube Cutter
1/2" aluminum Hand bender
Tape Measure
Sharpie
4 eye bolts
chain of choice
S-hooks
First, 1 piece of conduit and the tools needed. The large "thingy" is the hand bender (although you use your foot, shouldn't it be a foot bender?)
Mark off where you want the bend. I want the conduit to run right around the 6' mark. So, I marked off 4' and set the edge of the bender to that point, and bent.
Repeat for the remaining conduit
Next, stand one up next to the tank and check the height. I ended up 6" higher than I wanted. So, I trimmed 6" off the bottoms of each of them. I wasn't sure the radius the curve was going to be, so I made sure there would be slack at each end to play with.
Now, check the bend radii on all of them for consistency. As you can see, I have 1 piece that wasn't straight when I bought it. Lesson learned, check that at the store. I was able to manipulate it into place using my knee, however.
Now, this left me very long on the top side, so I had to trim off 25". I targeted to have the end of the conduit match up with the front edge of the tank. I may adjust this later a few more inches to protect my eyes and forehead, but don't want to get too far ahead before the lights arrive.
So, here they are, ready for the lights. I can't attach them to the stand yet, again need to verify everything once I have the lights before I start drilling holes. Here you can also see the "2-hole straps" I'll be using to attach to the stand.
Hopefully the lights get here soon. I'd love to have these hung tonight, but I doubt it. Weather isn't cooperating, as I plan to paint the conduit black to match the chain I selected and the color of the lighting fixtures. Lots of ice came last night, and I don't know that the wife would appreciate my painting in the garage. We'll have to see.
I'll finish this write up as I finish out the project showing how I'll actually set this up and hang the lighting from it. Just need the lights to arrive. Wait, did you hear that? Was that the UPS man? Oh, nope, not him.
Since I was waiting, I went ahead and cut eggcrate to mask the bottom of the tank. I plan on using some rocks, one of which is over 40 pounds, so this is just for my peace of mind that a point is going to get down to the glass.
