tank accessory weight limit

[kolosy]

is there a general guideline to how much weight can be placed ont he tank? I have a 40lb light fixture (one of those all-in-one t5/mh/led deals) that is currently suspended, but i hate the way it looks. i'd rather figure out a way to actually place it on the tank, but i'm worried about 40 lbs of weight on the edges. ideas?

 

[crvz]

what size tank is it and how thick is the glass? In general, a canopy is going to have a good amount of weigh to it, and as long as that's distributed it's not an issue. I wouldnt want to load up one pane with a ton of weight, but if you can find a way to spread it out you may not have a problem.

 

[royaldude]

Hi, I would think that if you built a canopy for the light fixture and placed it on the edges of the there would be no problem with the glass supporting this weight as long as the weight was fairly evenly distributed and going straight down onto the edges of the glass or trim at the top of the tank. If the weight ends up not going straight down onto the edges, but hits the tank panes at an angle there may be some stress problems. If you are still concerend about this, build the frame mount the lights and use shelf brackets to attach it to the wall (if there is one) behind the tank. Just make sure you hit some studs in the wall as gyprock or drywall probably won't support that weight. The problem with this would be access to the tank from the top. The canopy you make would need to be hinged so that you can access the tank.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

 

[kolosy]

well the wall mount is how i have it now... i'm just not a fan of how it looks.

i'll have to rig up an acrylic frame of some sort with adjustable legs.

that's gonna get interesting.

 

[royaldude]

Hi, I saw on here somewhere where there was a system rigged to the roof with pulley's and steel looking wire. This would get rid of the brackets you have on the wall as it would be suspended from the roof on wires. You could make it adjustable with the pulleys so that you could move it out of the way for maintenance and raise and lower it with the age of your bulbs. I don't know but would an acrylic frame hold up to the heat of MH's?(I use T5's). There is also a thread with some asking about "floating canopys" Perhaps that would be an option for you.