Show me your DIY wall mounts for pendants

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by Matt Rogers, Feb 12, 2011.

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  1. xmetalfan99

    xmetalfan99 Giant Squid

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  3. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    The easiest and cleanest looking install is with the hanging wire kit. The TEK is easily adjustable up and down.

    [​IMG]

    The Tornado anchors can be screwed in anywhere in the ceiling. I have plaster, so I drilled a 1/4" pilot hole first.

    ITW Buildex EZ Ancor
     
  4. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    I don't see the light on your setup in that pic xmetal - I do see the shelf. Gotta better pic?

    You know you bring up a good point about joists - can I find those with a stud-finder?

    The light came with cable anchors - if I take vankirk's idea and just run the electric cables up and behind the tank - perhaps there is no reason I couldn't use them?

    Not sure how to drill two holes in the ceiling and magically have the fixture exactly over the middle of my tank. :p
     
  5. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    See above ^^^. It's not necessary to find the studs. ;)
     
  6. wiigelec

    wiigelec Fire Shrimp

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    Use a plumb-bob and mark each corner of the tank on your ceiling then center from there...

    Yes. Personally and depending on the weight of the fixture I much prefer to have stuff that is hanging over my tank firmly anchored into wood versus drywall or plaster...
     
  7. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    The holding weight of the EZ Anchor is 50# in 1/2" drywall. Each. I have used them for years in construction without a problem. Both of my TEK's are hung with them. If you're unsure of the anchors, or your skills, then anchor a strip of 1x wood to the ceiling into the ceiling joists, then screw the light supports to the wood. Your walls should not be so far out of plumb that you can't simply measure where the fixture should go. I would hope.:p
     
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  9. Blue Falcon

    Blue Falcon Fire Goby

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    Ok not exactly a wall mount but I wanted to show my light bar. I got the idea from DIY

    I would have preferred attaching the bar to the back of the tank but since the tank has already been setup for a year I didnt want to move it away from the wall just to get a drill back there so I bolted it to the side of the stand.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  10. xmetalfan99

    xmetalfan99 Giant Squid

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    I don't have any pics of the light hanging, but I do have a photo of the cables dangling from the shelf in this post. I will take better photos when I get home.

    I centered the shelf as well as I could on the wall first. I then measured how far in the holes in the fixture were from the sides. Since my shelf is 48" long and fixture is 36" long, I added 6" to those measurements. I wanted the center of the fixture over the center of the tank, so I Measure the distance from the wall to the center of the tank. I then drilled the holes in to the shelf at that measurement so the fixture would be completely centered. The hardest part was making the fixture level.

    Once I did all that, I moved the tank to the left or right a smidgen to make sure that the light was completely centered over the tank.
     
  11. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Nice work xmetal - what I like about yours is the ability to put ballasts on the shelf if need be. My Aquamedic has an inline long skinny ballast half way into the cord for the actinics which annoys the hell out of me. I think I can hide it behind the tank - but still - I never understand way manufactuers include hanging kits but never seem to think about the fact that they put two damn cords coming out of the fixture and one with a crazy ballast on it. :p

    I think you just sold me. That is what came with my AquaMedic fixture. Thanks for the boost!

    I am a computer guy with soft hands - what the heck is a plump-bob?

    50lbs should be plenty - this fixture is 18 lbs.

    @Blue Falcon - nice work man! Where did you get that bar?


    I knew 3reefers would come through here... [STRIKE]beyond hanging this thing I need to figure out how to hook up my IceCap electronic ballast to this thing - the lamp has a nice female 3 prong connector going from memory (may be a bit wrong on the config) but the ballast is bare wire - I'd like to put a connector on it rather than hard wire if possible... probably need to figure that out before I try to hang this thing..[/STRIKE]

    THANKS ALL!!! I knew I'd get some help here..

    matt
     
  12. wiigelec

    wiigelec Fire Shrimp

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