Tonight I finally attempted what I feared might be impossible. I had originally planned to drill a hole in the wall behind the tank, right against the ceiling and drop my wire down into the wall. Then I'd pick it up with a magnet on the office/water change cabinet side somewhere and drill into the wall to fish it out. Then just run it into the back of the cabinet where my outlets are.
Then I planned for a way to have the wire be totally hidden on the tank side (emerge right from the ceiling into the actuator) and on the cabinet side (enter into the cabinet from the basement just like my drain pipe).
Here are the pics!
To do this I followed these steps:
- drilled hole where actuator assembly will mount to ceiling
- loosened and pushed aside the heating duct in upstairs washroom which straddles the wall between the tank and the cabinet
- ran string with weight on its end down into the basement from the bathroom through the studs where another vent pipe travels.
- ran another string from cabinet into basement through same cold air return hole that my water drain goes through
- tied those strings together in the basement (above drop ceiling in basement bathroom)
- ran wire through ceiling hole and got really lucky and was able to reach it from the bathroom heating duct hole
- tied wire to string and voila!
Anyways it's a huge relief. Building the lift mechanism *should* be the easy part now!
I've ordered all the parts I'll need. For anyone interested the total cost of the lift is around $300.
- 24" stroke linear actuator with brackets. rated for 150lbs
- 12vdc 2A power adapter
- 3 position toggle switch
- 3 u-groove bearings
The actuator has built in limits so i'll be able to flip the toggle up, light moves up 2 feet and stops on it's own. When I'm done in the tank it will lower all the way down and stop as well with a flip of the switch down. I can of course place the light anywhere inbetween which will be nice for acclimating new corals.