How should I hang my T5 lights?

[Cheebs]

Hey Guys,

I've got a 36" 6 bulb T5 tek light over my 40 gallon tank. Right now it's resting on a couple 2x4s, and I want to make it look a little prettier, so I was thinking of hanging the light above the tank.

My problem: the ceiling in my living room is nearly 14 feet high. Even if I could reach up there easily, it would just look ridiculous having a couple chains hanging all the way down.

So what I want to do is hang them using brackets coming from the wall behind the tank. I'd say that the center of the light where the chains would be coming from would be about 13 inches from the wall. Therefore I'd need wall mounts that extend 13" from the wall.

In my head I'm picturing something like the L shaped brackets used to hold up shelves on a wall, but perhaps a little nice looking than what I normally see, and without it actually looking like a shelf bracket.

So I guess my question is : Am I better off making this out of 2x4s and painting it black, or is there something I could buy that looks decent to do this?

I've got a modern, sleek look going on in the room, so I want something nice looking to mount my lights with. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Saltcreep]

Well, you can certainly do better than 2X4s. For something sleek and modern, IKEA might be worth a look. Maybe Lee Valley for a Shepherd's hook type plant hanger. Lee Valley would definitely be a good catalogue to check out online. We've got about the same height in a cathedral ceiling at the cottage, so I see what you're looking at. Personally, I think this might be the perfect place to try a suspension system. A nice stainless steel frame, same size as the tank, to hold the fixture, suspended just above the tank from four 1/16" stainless aircraft cables attached to the ceiling in the same size rectangular pattern. Add a few pulleys to the mix and you've got something modern looking that you can adjust to hold the lights off the tank for servicing.

[Darth]

I've seem something and I could never find it again but the guy had made a bracket sort of it seemed it was attached to the stand and had to metal arms that hung over the tank kind of like an awning and then he hung the light that way, I wished I knew where it was I saw this as it is something I (if being crafty) would like to pull off, as I have no clue on how to hang my lights anyway, and since I rent don't want to put big holes in the ceiling

[Saltcreep]

I've seem something and I could never find it again but the guy had made a bracket sort of it seemed it was attached to the stand and had to metal arms that hung over the tank kind of like an awning and then he hung the light that way, I wished I knew where it was I saw this as it is something I (if being crafty) would like to pull off, as I have no clue on how to hang my lights anyway, and since I rent don't want to put big holes in the ceiling

It might have been one of these ..

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=35563.msg221317#msg221317

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=45124.0

[Cheebs]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! The suspension system and tank mount thiny are very intriguing and I'm considering both. I've also spotted a couple promising brackets in the Lee Valley catalogue.
Thanks again!