DIY Motorised Light Frame For My Reef Tank
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- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2020
- I've always wanted a motorised light frame for my reef tank. I saw one in person once and was sold it was the only way to go on the new tank.
The ability to lift the lights up out of the way to give full access to the tank seemed like a dream come true. But how to achieve it?
Seems most use motorised blind motors in the ceiling and suspend the light frame from cable through the ceiling. This seems easy enough and quite affordable, but I will have a bit happening in the ceiling above this tank and I didn't want the light frame to be able to swing about at all.
I priced up a custom built hydraulic unit, but nearly fell over at the $3k price tag that it came with, so I had to DIY one!
All up this cost me less than $500 and I think it is an AWESOME solution.
Let me know what you think and if interested in using the same components for your tank (or your home office!) check out www.updowndesk.com.au for further information (tell them you saw it on Parkers Reef :P ) 
Животные
For those interested - I was able to purchase a spare parts kit from UpDownDesk at half price. I cannot say if they will be able to do this for others or not, but it is worth checking!
You obviously only need the two uprights, power supply and controller. Other components like the desk mounts, feet, cable trays and anything else is not required.
Using the desk was a very good idea. It should last long and be very strong.
Cheers mate!
Sam,
The lift is done. It works great. What a wonderful idea and to make it work, it's just awesome. I've got videos that I would love to share with you.
Please do!!
Great idea! I just ordered a desk mechanism. Waiting for the t-slot aluminum consultant to get back to me so I can order that also so I can attach the lights on to.
Sensational!!
The whole thing is ingenious!! And the price is right..
Thank you 🙏🏻
Very elaborate design, the option to slide the lights front to back would add to adjustments.
Yeah good thinking. With t-slot, it’s possible as it stands - but requires you to undo some Allen bolts, not automated...
Sam you have just given me the lead on what I have been thinking of how to build a canopy where I am move it all up and down and this will definitely give me ability to do that. Thank you so much for sharing this idea.. thank you m8 👍👌🙏🙏👏👏👏
My pleasure, glad it helped!
Once upon a time, I used something similar with a manual ratcheting pulley system that moved the canopy out of the way. Ended up changing it to fold the lights themselves back in the canopy and out of the way during maintenance. Haven't had a system large enough to warrant the design again but worked like a charm 👌
Sounds awesome! I’m hoping this makes maintenance nice and easy :)
Идея просто огонь, Вы как генератор идей 👍👍👍
Спасибо, надеюсь, это вам поможет!
Standing Desk!
YOU ARE A GENIUS!
Haha hope it helped?!
This is genius, my parents have their lcd tv mounted on a motorised lift to disappear into the tv cabinet. They never actually use the function so I may steal it for my next reef tank build!
Haha grab that motor!!!
@@ParkersReef yeah I think I will. I remember it was about 500 bucks or so when they got their massive entertainment/wall unit built.
You keeping us in suspense on the new tank build 😂
Hahahah suspense building!
Functional and for the right price well done Sam! Oh, and if the RHS rusts, it won't matter with the wall thickness of the steel, in your lifetime!
Good to know, thank you!
Brilliant idea Sam and at a good price. I would just look to have some molded plastic to cover the motors and the legs. Something that concertinas as the legs go up and down, you don't want salt water getting inside those sliding legs as they don't appear to have a lot of clearance
Yeah good thinking 👍🏻
Wow Sam. What a great solution. Can not wait for to see the rest of the build!!!
Thank you so much!
Great idea man.
Cheers dude!
Идея просто отличная, и самое главное бюджетная, огромное спасибо Вам за идеи 👍👍👍
спасибо, что нашли время посмотреть и прокомментировать!
Love this idea 💡. Can’t wait for the update 💯💯💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Thank you!!
Very cool diy! I'm planning on designing a manual pully system to lift my hood. I really like the preset option. You can just press a button and walk away or prepare for your maintenance.
Cheers!
Cool idea Sam but in my Experience any thing metal will rust. Stainless is your best bet. That too though can rust. Mounting the actuator motors remotely and using a pulley system could be a thought.
See how we go mate :)
That is absolutely awesome!! Love the idea and the ingenuity.
Thank you! Cheers!
genius ! hard pressed to think of anything as good 👍
Thanks mate!!
Awesome set up Sam.
Cheers mate
very nice setup!! congratulations, that tank is beautiful!! im gonna be waiting for the sump and fish... cheers from mexico!!
Not long now, thanks for watching
Love the setup great job
Cheers mate!
Love it Sam. At a reasonable price too.
I thought so!
love it, always pushing the envelope
Cheers man
Good job 👍 Awesome soloution.. neat little controller with presets.. I think it works a treat!
Cheers mate!
Absolutely genius solution 👌
Cheers!
love that mate!! great job!
Thank you :)
Brilliant I love it 👍👍👍 that is gonna be awesome when you need to do work in the tank
Cheers mate!
That's an awesome solution! Maybe worth looking into some dust (splash guard) covers similar to what's used on car suspension to protect it when it's at the operating height?
Also, make sure you can get it out to service/repair once the tank is in place. I wouldn't think you can manually adjust the height if the motors burn out.
Good thinking. I can certainly lift the motors out without moving the tank, so if it doesn’t work out I can fit something rigid in its place.
Splash guard is a good idea!
Parkers Reef awesome 👍 can’t wait to see the finished product
Very clever!! It'll be interesting to see how the motors hold up in that harsh environment... I'd think they'll be coated in salt spray pretty much constantly.
Yeah will see how they go. Thankfully they’re a fair way from the water and the canopy will be vented. But time will tell
Love it always good to push it to the next level 👍🏾👍🏾
Cheers mate!
Awesome job mate!! It would take years to rust.
Awesome, thank you :)
Hey mate, great solution. I’m definitely going to look into this for my next build.
Have an idea for you - use some t-frame and channels to build a hood Mount that slides front to back or left to right.
If the desk supports 120kg, it can certainly hold some marine ply and rails.
I saw a tank is the UAE do this. I’ll try to find it and send you the link.
Keep up the great content!
Check out the 12min mark. ruclips.net/video/ZEYex016NUc/видео.html
Thanks for checking this out for me!
Genius....
Cheers!
That looks awesome,y only concern is if it breaks, it would take a tank teardown to fix.
Yeah it is accessible without removing tank though :)
Love it mate
Cheers!
How is this holding up? Just grabbed some desk legs on a prime day special. Might use it for a desk, might use it on my tank. Who knows?! 😂
Still running a treat!!
Could of also used and modified a TV lift stand to work
You betcha
I wonder if it can be used upside down from the ceiling down as by new build will be viewed through a wall
Yes it can, but will need some serious mounting inside the ceiling
Genius idea,but honestly, mount some t-slot to the wall then mount that to the tslot, too close to the overflow/ tank but besides that it’s excellent!
Haha to each their own :)
Awesome
Cheers
Hi thanks for this vid been looking for a way to do it I think I will need 3 to 4 arms as my tank is 14 ft long
Yeah four arms be the go, grab a couple desks!
I also have a desk like this, different manufacturer but the system is the same.. and i got it for free second hand :)
I will probably save it when i get a new lightweight for project like this :) though i dont have 10.000+ AUD for this, i could buy a car for that lol
meh, cars are over rated :P
Is there a setup video for the mount of the fixture behind the tank? Would love that video if necessary.
I didn’t as it is literally 2 t bolts into the aluminium frame (it has slots to accommodate this)
If there is interest, I can make a video though :)
That's a really innovative approach, thanks for sharing! That's a beautiful tank, I love the eurobracing. Who is the manufacturer of that aquarium?
Thanks! It’s a waterbox custom tank :)
Nice !
Thank you!
Instead of using steel for the motor supports you can use aluminum that lasts longer.
Yeah could, but couldn’t find aluminium in the correct RHS size :)
Or stainless
For sure, I tried!
Once this is coated, it will be fine though. A lot of stands are steel that’s been painted, galvanised it’s powder coated
Forward thinking 😎
Cheers!
Looks good Parker. Did you look at mounting it upside down from the ceiling to make the thing more serviceable?
I sure did, that was the original idea. But it was going to be a lot of weight up there and it is going to be a busy space once the canopy goes in
A really nice solution!! Did you see the "holograph" fishes on 9:11?
I did not!
Any insight on how to do this on a smaller budget?
I’m not sure you could do it on a much lower budget than this. The sit stand desk can be bought for about $150-$200 these days. From there, it’s only a few dollars worth of scrap to kit it out
Looks really nice! Where did you get the white bottom from?
Made locally :)
Great work Sam !! Brilliant ! Are you able to share the details of exactly what you ordered from up and down - I’d like to order the same :)
Hey Karan, I needed the two motor uprights, controller and power supply.
Parkers Reef thanks mate !
SAM, you’re practically 10,000 views away from 1,000,000 total on the channel!! Anything special planned???
Big milestone hey! Nothing big planned, but it is pretty cool :)
Just wondering. Did you have to reinforce the floor to hold the tank? If i'm thinking correctly that is like 10,000 lbs all together with water, right?
We're on a concrete slab, so it was ready for the weight
Awesome setup!
You mentioned that you thought your tank would only last 15 years. Just thinking 🤔 what is the normal life expectancy of a tank before it starts to fail? I’m using a 75 gallon freshwater tank. Nothing fancy.
They will last longer if kept level, but after 10 years you are playing with fire in my opinion. Could well last 30, but I don’t want 380 gallons of salt water on the lounge room floor :)
Parkers Reef thank you 👍
Super nice!!! 300 gallon?
Yeah mate, 374 gallons :)
Amazing. Keep up the great work.
Parker,what happens if one motor fails?A lot of torque presented at a twisting verticee.Hacking in the control,no offense are you capable of that?And is this up and down programing going to be able to be handled by simple desk raising device motors .They are specked to be used very sparingly and in a person's presence.Doc BC
Hey Doc, thanks for the questions.
If one motor fails, I can simply lift it out of the RHS at the rear. Each motor is about 10kg, not impossible to lift.
Yes, I’ve opened up the controller and checked out the circuit board. I’ve already attached some sonoff basic WiFi switches to the memory press buttons which allows me to control them over WiFi.
As for use case, that’s one thing we’ll just have to wait and see. I don’t envision these getting used all that often, perhaps once a week?
Next you will need a electronic Sam lift to help you get up and in to clean hahahaha
Yeah wouldn’t be a bad idea hey.... maybe I could get another set of motors built into the floor??? :p
@@ParkersReef naahhh. Mission impossible style
Great thinking! It is a really cool option.
Why didn’t you go aluminum RHS instead of steel? It would have had ample strength, no rust, cheaper, lighter.......
Couldn’t find any in the right size :/
Parkers Reef what if you fabricated a “cup” out of 5mm plate and bolted that to the top of some T-slot? Cost of the galvanizing would be more then the fabrication of 2 5mm “cups”. Make the cups say 300mm deep.
Just a thought mate, love the out of the box idea you came up with.
Parkers Reef how big are the legs? Found aluminum shs 100mm with 94mm I.d. down there in the plague state. 😜
The RHS is 102x76mm with 5mm walls. The cups idea is good though...
Where did you get the tank stand from?
Here mate:
ruclips.net/video/F4pgduPLoDU/видео.html
Are you going to use this light rig with Phillips Coral Care?
That’s the plan :)
Great idea but will moisture and salt creep not get into the motor above the tank and will the metal on the stand not rust as it is only for office use and not outdoor or this kind of use, even between the moving joints will rust up
I’m hoping it’s far enough away from the water and the powder coating keeps it operational.
Time will tell though!
@@ParkersReef fingers crossed, im hoping it works out. You will be my Guinea pig and if it works il copy in My big build, if not its going to be a pain to try move and dismantle.
Actually pretty easy. Motors lift up and out. Steel out the back is removed by two Allen bolts
@@ParkersReef great. Looking forward to your next videos
Cheers mate!
Would the salt water cause any problems?
Hopefully not, time will tell :)
The area above the tank will of course be prone to salt water splashing and spray, but that will be fairly minimal. Over time, this could have corrosive effects, but given the goals of this particular tank, I don’t see that being much of an issue over the time span of 10-15 years.
The larger concern is simple humidity from tank evaporation. This can be largely mitigated with a good ventilation plan.
If ventilation isn’t planned for, condensation can build up inside the hood enclosure. This can cause galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals. You’ll tend to notice this first at the hardware mounting points of bolts and screws. It may be a good idea to use anti galvanic paste at these connection points, just be carful because many of those tend to be copper based.
Hey Parker, I’m steeling your idea for my current 180g build. What were the dimensions of the RHS steel you bought?
The RHS was an odd size, I can't remember exactly but it fit neatly over the columns of the standup desk motors. My local steel place said they wouldn't have anything to fit as it wasn't a standard size but then I showed them a listing on their website and they took another look out back and found it :P
Found something similar on Amazon for 70$
Awesome!!
Oh think I’m early 👍👍
hahahaha yeah a little, but don't worry - it goes live 5pm Saturday AEST time :)
🤯🤯🤯🤯🙏🙏🙏
Haha thanks
I am waiting for someone to diy a light better than a radion by accident.
Haha I’m not going to make a light just yet 😅
Unfair
hahahaha another day for the vid man!
What kind of lighting are you going with?
kessils are locked in, but I am still unsure on philips coral care or metal halides :)
Parkers Reef
Hi Sam 👋
BRS TVs recent video covers extensively all data and info required to help make up you mind on the Philips coral care gen 2.
Worth a viewing. 👍🏴
Save your self some cash and replace the steel with 3 or 4mm ally box. Strong enough for a light fixture and will never rust. That rhs hates salt water and replace you bolts with stainless steel or gal.
Will look into it 👍🏻
teaser
yeah need to spread the videos out a little during this time, otherwise I'll have no content whilst waiting for things to arrive :D
Very cool diy! I'm planning on designing a manual pully system to lift my hood. I really like the preset option. You can just press a button and walk away or prepare for your maintenance.
Cheers mate!