I recently made an ADA style light bar for, well, peanuts.

I used conduit pipe, a pipe bender, a pipe cutter, some brackets.
All said, it ran about 40$, and I have enough material to make several more.

The light was cheap as well, much like the Aqua medic lights but about 150$ less(135$ ea with 10K bulb). The stand was made without a table saw, just a few cheesy cuts at Home Depot and some wood, that ran about 40$ at the end of the day for paint and construction ties/angles.

So I made a nice stand, light rail and light set up for about 220$.

This will serve from a 60 gallon cube to a 20 gallon tank.

ADA price:

Light: 480$
Rail: 180$
Stand, you don't want to know.

About 1000$ or more.

All in all, this was a pretty easy DIY project.
And I can make plenty more light rail bars for other folks as well as the 5 tanks I have.








Regards,
Tom Barr

Please note, I am going to paint the conduit bar white so it's not so ugly.

I have a 24LX20HX18D 3/8" rimless custom glass tank going in here with 2 drilled 1/2" bulk holes, screw those Lily silly pipes ADA makes, I've never liked them.
PITA to clean, easy to break, cost too much, hard to get to fit some tanks.

I just drill the holes and plumb the canister through the bottom of the tank, no hoses and other garbage in the way.

Here's the bending tool:



And the brackets holding the conduit to the stand.

The light weighs about 2-3 lbs, and is very easy to adjust up and down(150w HQI) and ran about 135$ with ballast/bulbs handing kit, nice clip on legs. Excellent deal.



Several folks have detailed using the conduit in the past, I chose to alter the bends to better suit the design and layout I like.

You can bend various patterns if you play around.

Enjoy

Regards,
Tom Barr

The one piece idea is really cool! I have built mine using conduits which I painted black but I used backets to get the angle I needed. After seeing this though I will be re-building mine using just 1 piece.

BTW where did you buy the lights?

Nice! I was just planning out my own DIY project along the same lines. I am very lucky to have fantastic shop resources at work, which I want to learn, so I need a project to do. The shops' manager is my co-worker and friend, and he seems willing to help out.

Can't wait to get started after seeing your pics.

I should draw it up in SketchUp for shits'n'giggles... Want to email/send me the dims?

Which light is that, anyway? Do you have a URL?

I got it off ebay, a local guy here in SF sells them.
Fishneedit is the user name.

I got a couple more in case I want to use them for another project or not like the Aqualight pro coralife hoods.

I can make the bars in a few minutes.

I'm actually tying two similar matching pieces( a left and right) together for the larger heavier hood fixtures. So one connector in the middle to add strength.

I'm going to see how heavy the 24" coralife fixtures are, but I do not like a single bend with the ends pointing out at you.

I like a nice line, but I do not like the U shape design attached to the sides of a tank either.

ADA has that as well.

I could hang a support wire up to the ceiling and do a larger version of this same design.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I totally agree with you on the issue of not likiing the bars at the side and the sticking out as well. Simple, effective and cool looking.

I took a look at the sellers fixtures and they do seem nice. How is the quality of the fixtures in person?

I was expecting something cheaper, but was pleasantly surprised.
They are as good as the AM Ocean lights.

I felt the coralife aqua light pros where better than the AM stuff.
ADA is just extremely over priced for what they sell.

I just cannot justify it.
The same issue was true in the past with Dupla.
So folks started DIY and testing etc.

Same deal here, just 25 years later.

I've found a good rimless glass tank maker locally, he does really good work, I wish I'd found him before getting the Glass Cages stuff, but I'm still pretty happy.

ADA aqua soil is all I really need and that's reasonable in price and available.
Regards,
Tom Barr

Hi Tom,

You said that you were drilling the bottom of the tank for the in & out flow, how are you doing the out flow to the filter. I ask because I will be going down the same path with a 36Lx18Wx21H. The guy who will drill my tank has recommended gluing a piece of glass diagonally acros the corner of the tank to create a weir. This will eat up a large area in the corner of the tank. Is there a better method?

It's not an overflow, it's a sealed closed canister filter loop, no sump in other words.

So the water is taken in down on the bottom, cycled through the Canister, then sent to heat and CO2, then back to the bottom.

I use heavy duty Sch 80 Bulk heads with seals on both sides and E6000 glue as well for long term seals. A good wipe with silicone lubricant for rubber gasket seals helps as well.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Here's the 3/4" version with a Croalife aqualight pro(24lbs):



Regards,
Tom Barr