open air tank - suspending lights?

[seastaar88]

so my 20g is sitting empty in my basement (still waiting to paint my office and get all the boxes out from moving!) and i have a great piece of driftwood that i found that doesn't fit height-wise in my tank (it comes up about three inches higher than the top of the tank). i really don't want to cut it because the shape of it is really unique (S-shaped). i'm thinking that when i get my tank going (hopefully in less than a month) i'd like to have an open air tank and suspend the lights as it will be a planted tank.

has anyone had experience with suspending lights? (i'm not sure how i'd accomplish this but) i wanted to maybe have three pendants set on timers and stagger when one/two/all three lights are on to recreate the natural progression of light. am i being very ambitious or is this possible? or should i just suspend a CF hood?

thanks!
jan

 

[TheMainer]

Jan,

I think it is very possible to suspend lights over a tank. It all depends on what kind of look you are going for. I have always preferred a hood because I feel it looks more "clean".

I have never hung lights over a tank before, but I would assume that you just need to find some studs above the tank. You can screw something into those.

Best of luck!

 

[Lotus]

We have a suspended wood fixture with VHO lights over one of our tanks. We got some hooks and some metal wire from the home improvement store. It was pretty easy to do, but you do have to put the hooks into the studs. Make sure the wire you get has enough strength to support the weight of the lights (it was marked on the shelf when we went). Our ballasts aren't in the hood, so it's not too bulky. Hiding the wires may be a challenge.

Also, make sure you don't keep "jumper" fish in the tank.