# Possible to raise the height of my light?



## Tonynlo (Mar 27, 2008)

I have a Marineland t5 setup, which sits rather close to the top of the water in my tank. I have a glass cover below it, which gets covered in salt. My feeling is that the light is not getting through the glass. I have looked around and can not seem to find universal legs that will raise up my lighting a few inches. I am not too much of a DIY guy. Is there some type of a solution to this?


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


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## Tonynlo (Mar 27, 2008)

AKSkirmish said:


> Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


No I do not unfortunately, I rent my home and am not allowed to do that.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

why do you have the glass cover on the tank?


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## Tonynlo (Mar 27, 2008)

nismo driver said:


> why do you have the glass cover on the tank?


I only have the glass below my light fixture. It is only there to prevent water from splashing up on my bulbs. I would rather do away with the glass, which is why i would like to raise up the fixture. I was thinking of simply taking using some hot glue and making a section for the light to sit on under my canopy.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Tonynlo said:


> Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


No I do not unfortunately, I rent my home and am not allowed to do that.
[/quote]

I have never seen someone that wont allow one to use eye hooks in the ceiling------But you know the rules better than me......


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

how much splashing do you really have to deal with? maybe removing the source of slashing would elminate the need for the glass. its pretty much impossible to prevent all salt creep but you could probably reduce it enought that regular cleaning of the bulbs would be the extent of the extra maintenance.

other option would be to build legs out of PVC that shouldnt be very difficult. get a length of 1/2in pvc and some elbows and a hack saw. measure everything twice cut once and notch out the end so it rest on the edges of the tank securely and supports the fixture then spray is with some black krylon and you should be good to go..


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## Tonynlo (Mar 27, 2008)

AKSkirmish said:


> Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


No I do not unfortunately, I rent my home and am not allowed to do that.
[/quote]

I have never seen someone that wont allow one to use eye hooks in the ceiling------But you know the rules better than me......








[/quote]

Neither have I









I think for now, before I dive into some project, I will just try to keep the surface water as still as possible and see what happens. Thanks for your help again. BTW my tank has been running for around 2 months and everything is going great so far. I took some pictures and I will post them to those who are interested. Currently just FOWLR, but not for long! Side Note: Should I have some coralline starting by now? I have a green "mossy" type algae covering my live rock and am looking forward to nicer colors.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Tonynlo said:


> Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


No I do not unfortunately, I rent my home and am not allowed to do that.
[/quote]

I have never seen someone that wont allow one to use eye hooks in the ceiling------But you know the rules better than me......








[/quote]

Neither have I









I think for now, before I dive into some project, I will just try to keep the surface water as still as possible and see what happens. Thanks for your help again. BTW my tank has been running for around 2 months and everything is going great so far. I took some pictures and I will post them to those who are interested. Currently just FOWLR, but not for long! Side Note: Should I have some coralline starting by now? I have a green "mossy" type algae covering my live rock and am looking forward to nicer colors.
[/quote]
green mossy sounds like green hair algea, if your getting that stuff then its unlikel you will get a whole lot of coraline..

is normal for new tanks to go through various stages of algea growth for the first 6 - 12 months. check your nitrates and phosphates these are the fuels for green algae growth.

as for reducing surface action is the tank drilled? surface action is good for gas exchange so you dont want it to be glassy calm. but it really shouldnt be so crazy that its splashing the light.


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## Tonynlo (Mar 27, 2008)

nismo driver said:


> Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


No I do not unfortunately, I rent my home and am not allowed to do that.
[/quote]

I have never seen someone that wont allow one to use eye hooks in the ceiling------But you know the rules better than me......








[/quote]

Neither have I









I think for now, before I dive into some project, I will just try to keep the surface water as still as possible and see what happens. Thanks for your help again. BTW my tank has been running for around 2 months and everything is going great so far. I took some pictures and I will post them to those who are interested. Currently just FOWLR, but not for long! Side Note: Should I have some coralline starting by now? I have a green "mossy" type algae covering my live rock and am looking forward to nicer colors.
[/quote]
green mossy sounds like green hair algea, if your getting that stuff then its unlikel you will get a whole lot of coraline..

is normal for new tanks to go through various stages of algea growth for the first 6 - 12 months. check your nitrates and phosphates these are the fuels for green algae growth.

as for reducing surface action is the tank drilled? surface action is good for gas exchange so you dont want it to be glassy calm. but it really shouldnt be so crazy that its splashing the light.
[/quote]

The tank is not drilled. I have an overflow box with a "U" shaped tube that runs the water down to my sump. I only wish I had the tank drilled before I started this project. Is it impossible to drill a tank with the fish already in there?


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Tonynlo said:


> Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


No I do not unfortunately, I rent my home and am not allowed to do that.[/quote]

I have never seen someone that wont allow one to use eye hooks in the ceiling------But you know the rules better than me......







[/quote]

Neither have I









I think for now, before I dive into some project, I will just try to keep the surface water as still as possible and see what happens. Thanks for your help again. BTW my tank has been running for around 2 months and everything is going great so far. I took some pictures and I will post them to those who are interested. Currently just FOWLR, but not for long! Side Note: Should I have some coralline starting by now? I have a green "mossy" type algae covering my live rock and am looking forward to nicer colors.[/quote]
green mossy sounds like green hair algea, if your getting that stuff then its unlikel you will get a whole lot of coraline..

is normal for new tanks to go through various stages of algea growth for the first 6 - 12 months. check your nitrates and phosphates these are the fuels for green algae growth.

as for reducing surface action is the tank drilled? surface action is good for gas exchange so you dont want it to be glassy calm. but it really shouldnt be so crazy that its splashing the light.[/quote]

The tank is not drilled. I have an overflow box with a "U" shaped tube that runs the water down to my sump. I only wish I had the tank drilled before I started this project. Is it impossible to drill a tank with the fish already in there?[/quote]

it can be done...




But i would imagine small slivers of glass still end up in your water.... really its up to you


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


No I do not unfortunately, I rent my home and am not allowed to do that.[/quote]

I have never seen someone that wont allow one to use eye hooks in the ceiling------But you know the rules better than me......







[/quote]

Neither have I









I think for now, before I dive into some project, I will just try to keep the surface water as still as possible and see what happens. Thanks for your help again. BTW my tank has been running for around 2 months and everything is going great so far. I took some pictures and I will post them to those who are interested. Currently just FOWLR, but not for long! Side Note: Should I have some coralline starting by now? I have a green "mossy" type algae covering my live rock and am looking forward to nicer colors.[/quote]
green mossy sounds like green hair algea, if your getting that stuff then its unlikel you will get a whole lot of coraline..

is normal for new tanks to go through various stages of algea growth for the first 6 - 12 months. check your nitrates and phosphates these are the fuels for green algae growth.

as for reducing surface action is the tank drilled? surface action is good for gas exchange so you dont want it to be glassy calm. but it really shouldnt be so crazy that its splashing the light.[/quote]

The tank is not drilled. I have an overflow box with a "U" shaped tube that runs the water down to my sump. I only wish I had the tank drilled before I started this project. Is it impossible to drill a tank with the fish already in there?[/quote]

it can be done...




But i would imagine small slivers of glass still end up in your water.... really its up to you
[/quote]

drilling a full semi full tank is really stupid, nothing to do with the glass grindings that might end up in the tank, its sand anyway and if you get shards then you did something wrong drilling and will have a cracked tank or atleast a weekend hole. there should be a clean edge. lets say it does crack now you have half full tank cracked and possibly leaking with the pressure of the water making matter worse. just not really a good idea. plus you have to work on the thing virtically which is not ideal for keeping the bit cool with out making a huge mess and this is of course if you can get to the tank or move it with all that water in it.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

nismo driver said:


> Do you have the option of hanging your lights from the ceiling (sp)...


No I do not unfortunately, I rent my home and am not allowed to do that.[/quote]

I have never seen someone that wont allow one to use eye hooks in the ceiling------But you know the rules better than me......







[/quote]

Neither have I









I think for now, before I dive into some project, I will just try to keep the surface water as still as possible and see what happens. Thanks for your help again. BTW my tank has been running for around 2 months and everything is going great so far. I took some pictures and I will post them to those who are interested. Currently just FOWLR, but not for long! Side Note: Should I have some coralline starting by now? I have a green "mossy" type algae covering my live rock and am looking forward to nicer colors.[/quote]
green mossy sounds like green hair algea, if your getting that stuff then its unlikel you will get a whole lot of coraline..

is normal for new tanks to go through various stages of algea growth for the first 6 - 12 months. check your nitrates and phosphates these are the fuels for green algae growth.

as for reducing surface action is the tank drilled? surface action is good for gas exchange so you dont want it to be glassy calm. but it really shouldnt be so crazy that its splashing the light.[/quote]

The tank is not drilled. I have an overflow box with a "U" shaped tube that runs the water down to my sump. I only wish I had the tank drilled before I started this project. Is it impossible to drill a tank with the fish already in there?[/quote]

it can be done...




But i would imagine small slivers of glass still end up in your water.... really its up to you
[/quote]

drilling a full semi full tank is really stupid, nothing to do with the glass grindings that might end up in the tank, its sand anyway and if you get shards then you did something wrong drilling and will have a cracked tank or atleast a weekend hole. there should be a clean edge. lets say it does crack now you have half full tank cracked and possibly leaking with the pressure of the water making matter worse. just not really a good idea. plus you have to work on the thing virtically which is not ideal for keeping the bit cool with out making a huge mess and this is of course if you can get to the tank or move it with all that water in it.
[/quote]

I figured that was a given...


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