Light fixture 'mod'..?

jennesque

I'm not sure how "DIY" this really is, it's more of just a hack.. but I thought this would be the best place to post this. First, I should say I do have endlers.. so if going lidless is a terrible idea because they'll jump out go ahead and stop me there.

I just recently purchased one of Petco's 6.6 gallon acrylic tanks. The rim on the tank easily pops off and is not glued down or anything and because of the anxiously designed hood I'm thinking about removing the rim/lid all together. My only obstacle is the light, which sits directly on the lid of the tank.

I cannot suspend the lights very easily so I'm thinking of putting legs on the light and having it raised a bit from the surface. My other light fixture does have feet that it came with, although they're made to sit the light right on the surface of the tank. If I can bend them to create an inch or two gap from the rim to the light, would bit be safe to just screw these legs into the side of the light fixture? I think they're designed with screws at the end to lock the legs in place if they need to be stretched out horizontall

I'll have to look at it more when I am actually home, but I wanted to start the brainstorming process.

DKRST

A picture of the tank or light might be helpful.
Couple of, perhaps relevant, thoughts. Acrylic will warp over time. Even if the top rim pops off, it may still provide necessary support, particularly if the acrylic is really thin. Or, could be totally decorative. Hard to know.

The only thing you want to avoid on the lighting is screwing into the wires or other important part, obviously. Other than that?

jennesque

OK. I'll try to get some pics today or tomorrow..

I've never had an acrylic tank before.. I had no idea that they warp! It doesn't totally surprise me though.. I wonder how much it would warp. It does seem like pretty thick acrylic since it is only a 6.6 gallon tank... I also would hope the fact that it's only about 9" tall and 7" wide that there wouldn't be too much pressure on it. It does have a bit of a Bowfront already though, and it's a whole two feet long.

Hmm.. I was trying to Google a picture of the legs and I found this pic and I'm thinking this may indeed be how they look.

I don't think these would work without a rim.. I guess I'll have to double check what I've actually got to work with. This may prove harder than what I had hoped.

I can maybe at least leave the lid off if I can mount these legs to the light though. I don't particularly care about going rimless (though I think it might look neat!), so much as getting rid of the lid that the light has to sit on. The lid is a total pain to remove every time and I only get a like .75x3" little flap to feed my fish through.. which doesn't work well for the picky fish I have to try to hand feed. :/
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