80/20 light mounts - lightbars - need advice

[Alexander1312]

Since starting my IM 150 tank, I have been running a bare-bones light setup with the idea of upgrading it after a few months. The dino issues and subsequent cyano issues made me wait a bit longer, but I am ready for a more ‘advanced’ setup since all of this is over now.

There are a few ways to go about this, and I am currently considering either two light bars, one on the front and one on the rear, or adding two Reefis. Regardless of this decision, I will (probably) need two cross bars to mount the Reefis or the light bars on my current 80/20 structure.

My primary questions to make this work are the following:

1. How do I connect two crossbars to an existing mount? Which pieces do I need to do this, and where can I buy them?

2. I bought the components for the initial setup online (based on a template provided by Daniel from Reefi). Can I buy 80/20 cross bars somewhere locally, or have an existing bar cut in two (since I already have one)?

Lastly, does anyone have a similar setup with two cross bars? Which light bars did you mount, and how did you mount these bars to the cross bars, in detail?

My current thinking if I am not going with the Reefis (mainly because Daniel is on vacation until the end of Aug, I believe), are the following light bars:

1. Quanta light bars - my preference; however, they are not dimmable.

2. GHL Mitras light bars

 

[finalphaze987]

TNUTZ.COM has some great prices on extrusion and hardware.

Shipping takes a while tho. Still waiting for my order that I placed on 7/2.

I plan on using a corner gusset to join a crossbar on my light post. Since I haven't tried it yet, I can't recommend it in confidence, but will let you know how it goes.

I haven't found and local source of tslot hardware except for standing around home depots screw isle trying to rig something up with bolts and washers.

HTH

 

[Turkeysammich]

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He’s the cheapest, he will tell you he’s selling leftovers from his van build. But he’s not. His friend owns a distribution company in LA. He gets it for cheap.

But to answer your questions. Yes, yes and yes. It’s like legos. Just design what you want and build it. If you need help. Let me know. 10/10 is probably the cheapest. The little pieces are what’s gonna kill you on price. The sticks are fairly cheap. The bad thing tho. Your cuts have to be exact to the mm for no gaps.

 

[derek_SR]

Since starting my IM 150 tank, I have been running a bare-bones light setup with the idea of upgrading it after a few months. The dino issues and subsequent cyano issues made me wait a bit longer, but I am ready for a more ‘advanced’ setup since all of this is over now.

There are a few ways to go about this, and I am currently considering either two light bars, one on the front and one on the rear, or adding two Reefis. Regardless of this decision, I will (probably) need two cross bars to mount the Reefis or the light bars on my current 80/20 structure.

My primary questions to make this work are the following:

1. How do I connect two crossbars to an existing mount? Which pieces do I need to do this, and where can I buy them?

2. I bought the components for the initial setup online (based on a template provided by Daniel from Reefi). Can I buy 80/20 cross bars somewhere locally, or have an existing bar cut in two (since I already have one)?

Lastly, does anyone have a similar setup with two cross bars? Which light bars did you mount, and how did you mount these bars to the cross bars, in detail?

My current thinking if I am not going with the Reefis (mainly because Daniel is on vacation until the end of Aug, I believe), are the following light bars:

1. Quanta light bars - my preference; however, they are not dimmable.

2. GHL Mitras light bars

View attachment 58794

There's a million ways to connect 80/20 - I'd just do some browsing on tnutz.com or 8020.net. They are basically like legos - easy to figure out and fairly intuitive.

You can cut this stuff with any miter saw, it doesn't even need to be a super fine blade - I used a rough cut lumber blade on my miter saw and it goes through it like butter. Very easy to work with!

I'd shop at tnutz.com - very cheap compared to other options. And they stock the "basic" stuff so you don't get overwhelmed with the amount of choices that 8020.net stocks (although it's a good place to browse too once you get more comfortable).

 

[wazzupmac]

I gotta say that this video gave me 90% of the inspiration for my light set up:

My build has some mentions on what I did with my light build. My set up allows me to add additional bars. If I chose 2 have 2 rows of lights. @CaseyP also has references in his build and his suggestions were useful.

My lights are attached using something I found on R2R - kessil mount that slides into my he TSlot.

 

[Darkxerox]

The new quantas are dimmable from what I remember hearing. But they're not on the market yet.

 

[Alexander1312]

The new quantas are dimmable from what I remember hearing. But they're not on the market yet.

I believe Helix is the name. According to Rob, it is supposed to come out any day.

I still haven't figured out how to mount it. It seems like there are a million ways, but I only need one. I also got the title of the thread wrong—it was supposed to say 2040 bars.

 

[CaseyP]

You can just add two 2020 bars to match your existing profile.

An L bracket to secure them to the main rail if you're placing a single piece cross bar across the top or bottom of the main rail.

A little bit cleaner look would be to add four arms connected to the side of the main rail. You can use an inside corner connector to do that

My concern would be the potential for the light rail to tip over since the center of gravity is no longer only directly in the middle. Looks like it just balances on those two feet resting on your tank rim? Hard to tell though without actually feeling it though.

I also have a set of Orphek universal brackets if you want to try mounting them.

 

[derek_SR]

Note that the problem with option #2 above, is that the Reefi mounts will not slide along the rail past the cross-members. They are printed to basically wrap around 3 sides of the beam - so depending on the construction (if the cross members are flush mounted like in the pic you may not be able to get the light on/off without deconstructing the mount).

It’s cleaner option like Casey says, but I had to go with the simpler L-bracket option #1 to mount the cross-members ABOVE the main rail so I could slide lights on and off:

Just make sure you think through this very carefully if going with Reefi lights!

Here’s another better pic with the Reefi mount in the frame that illustrates what I’m talking about: