Bike Hoists...

[seand]

So I had a problem figuring out the lighting system for my 400 gallon. I had to be able to access a tank that's 82x45x28, but still fit lights over it with a 94" ceiling.

I used bike hoists, pulleys, and plastic coated steel cable.
http://www.tanklights.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_DSCN6197.JPG

Here's the Locking ends of the hoists:
http://www.tanklights.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_DSCN6200.JPG

The wire goes:
- from the locking pulley (far rear right in pic)
- down to the pulley in the pendant frame
- back up to the hoist
- across the ceiling to the next hoist pulley (near right)
- back down to another pulley in the pendant frame
- back up to another hoist pulley
- right turn Clyde... across the ceiling
- to the next hoist (left front in pic)
- back down to another pulley in the pendant frame
- back up to another hoist pulley
- right turn Clyde... across the ceiling again
... you get the idea... it's one continuous wire terminating on 2 locking pulleys.

I got the hoists from www.bikehoists.com - which was just an e-bay store, but had good prices.

Another idea I never impleminted was to hook the whole thing up to a winch, but it's easy and actually preferable to do it manually...


http://www.tanklights.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_DSCN6201.JPG

[icu2]

Nicely done!

[Bigfish]

I have the same projector and chairs. We should compare notes, a person into Big Tanks and home theater...cool

[Seamonster]

Its amazing I have the almost same setup as far as the home theater goes in my basement

[seand]

I just recently revamped the lighting system. Since I moved to Phoenix 14K lamps, I no longer need the VHO Actinics. The canopy was getting in the way of the wires when the lights were moving, so I ditched the canopy entirely. Now the lights actually move, and I have "blackout" cellular shades so I can pull them all the way down and watch movies even while the tank lights are on. Usually I just have them pulled town enough to hide the exposed lighting system, but still give me enough room for a top dowm view of the tank.

Sorry I haven't cleaned the glass in a while... That's my project for tomorrow night...

Shades Drawn a little below where I usually keep them. They will go down far enough to cover the whole tank...
http://www.reefjunk.com/photos/albums/userpics/10001/normal_400_shade.jpg

To give you an idea how the light movers work, it takes about 20 seconds for the lights to move from the fron to the back. They they rest for about 1.5 minutes before moving back. There's 2 motors that are set slightly out of synch so that the light patterns vary a little over time (sometimes the lights end up resting diagonally across the tank instead of always being all at the front or all at the rear).

Here's the lights at their front-most position.
http://www.reefjunk.com/photos/albums/userpics/10001/normal_400_front.jpg

Here's the lights in transition - slightly diagonal because the motor on the right started moving 5 seconds before the one on the left.
http://www.reefjunk.com/photos/albums/userpics/10001/normal_400_center.jpg

Here's the lights at their rear-most position.
http://www.reefjunk.com/photos/albums/userpics/10001/normal_400_back.jpg



Other theater Sats:
----------------------
Dennon 2910 DVD (using DVI)
Sony HS10 PJ
Sony DA4-ES 7.1 x 110W tuner
DIY 7 channel main speakers
DIY 10" subwoofer (down to about 30 Hz).
1x50W Aura Bass Shakers mounted in each seat (12-35 Hz).
100" Stewart Firehawk (16:9) screen
IMX Pixel Processing Lens (removes screendoor effect)