DIY hood pics

[sammydee]

Its not finished, just thought I'd put some pics up in case anybody is interested.

I did a search for DIY canopies to be used with fluorescent lighting, but all the ones I found were really high ones for metal halide. So I just threw my own one together:

It's not finished, it needs a final coat of paint and varnishing, but I was quite pleased with it myself

 

[Salt Freak]

thats cool are you planning to use any type of lights on it.

 

[Discomafia]

What kind of wood is it? Is that glue/silicone you used? Why not screws/nails? I really like the black colour, what did you use to paint it and did you use any stain? What about a polyurethane finish?

I also notice you didn't make any lid or opening for tank maintence or feeding... What are you going to do about the side w/ no wood covering it? Plan on covering it in case your fish jump? How long did it take you to do all this?

I'm asking all this because that looks exactly like the hood I built, and I plan on using glass to cover the tank, because I have nothing now between the lights and the water surface... Once I get the glass cut, evaporation will be at a low and it's also safer in case any water reaches the ballast or whatever electrical parts there might be under the hood.

 

[digital_run]

Once you get some lights in there Tin-foil the sucker so you get good reflection....Looks good to me...I would of built somin like that but i was too lazy and had money

 

[sammydee]

Well the actual wood building construction part took only a couple of hours. It's the continuous painting/varnishing you have to wait for.

Discomfia: It is marine grade plywood, I used ordinary wood glue, which I will seal with silicon when I have finished. The black paint is ordinary blackboard black, which looks even better when it is varnished, and I did not stain the wood. I have cut a sheet of 1/4" perspex to keeep the fish/evaporation in, and I will be using four overdriven NO tube. You could probably squeeze seven tubes in there, max.

There is no opening, as I felt this would leave no room for extra lighting, so I'm aiming to just take the lid off every day. I might cut a little hole or something?

I don't know what polyurethane is, I used yacht varnish (Spar varnish in the states i think) as a finish. The actual construction took me about 2-3 hours, and the painting has taken me over a week so far, but still needs three more coats of varnish.

Hope this answered all of your questions

 

[Discomafia]

Thanks for answering those questions!

I used this stain, Dark Walnut Number 2716, and this is Polyurethane. I used it to give it a sheen and it also protects the wood (I used pine).

Had no choice but to make a around 3" horizontal cut in the wood, and use 2 hinges and make sort of a door at the front. Two pieces of support at the bottom of the tank to make sure the said piece of wood doesn't fall, and a knob to open it, and I was all set.

I really didn't want to remove the tank on a daily basis, you see. You're going to have a hard time planting your tank with no tank lights, hope your lights in the room are bright enough.

Took me around a week to stain and finish the whole thing. The smell didn't really go after a day, and that was plus the fans blowing, doors open, and incense burning!

I used acrylic to coat the whole interior of the tank so evaporation won't spoil the wood. Bad idea. The light fixture is starting to get rusty, plus since we both have that gap at the back, fish that are prone to jump will be doomed. So as soon as it's convinient, I'm going to buy a piece of glass to cover the top. Make it 1.5 or 2" shorter than actual width of tank (HOB filter takes up space...) and get some net or other material to cover the little gaps, and that's all that's needed to be done for the tank.

I was advised to do this in other forums as well, as evaporation will surely be a problem. I have 60 and soon getting 85 watts of light on the tank (33G, how big is your's ?) and evaporation has defn. been a factor for me. And since you're wanting even more, than...

HTH

 

[sammydee]

You're going to have a hard time planting your tank with no tank lights

I will be having lights, I already said - I'm going to have four NO (normal output - this might be where you got confused ) fluorescent tubes, overdriven to 36 wats each. I might add two more later, but I am aiming for a total wattage of 144 wats, or as it is a 20 gallon tank, that gives me a little over six watts per gallon. My hood is for a marine tank (hence the extremely high WPG) - I looked at that polyurethane stuff - looks the same as ordinary spar/yacht varnish.

It's a twenty gallon long tank, so the dimensions are 12" deep x 30" wide x 15" high. If your 33 gallon is high, it might be the same surface area? I will be adding a layer of perspex, siliconed to the four cube shaped supports on each corner of the tank. This will reduce evaporation and stop fish jumping out of the tank. It will also stop the corrosive salt water getting to my lights and ballast. I might leave a gap at the back for wires, HOBs, skimmers etc.

I would recommend making one of these to anyone who wants to cram a lot of fluorescnet tubes over a smaller tank - much nicer looking and cheaper than buing the alternative - a luminaire made by arcadia.

The inside of the hood is painted white, which I think is supposed to be a very good all round reflector of light. I'll take a picture of the internal supports (four cubes which hold the hood on the edge of the tank) when I get home. Pine wasn't really an option for me - it would swell in a salt water environment I think - so that is why I used marine ply, which I am going to liberally drench in a thick layer of varnish (and silicone on the edges) to stop the water getting to the glue. The blackboard paint when varnished makes it look very professional, and you can also use the paint on the back of the tank as a background.

Got any pics of your tank, Discomfia? I'll get some of the inside of mine when I get home.

sam

 

[Discomafia]

What I meant was that you're going to have a hard time planting your tank without any lights to see what you're doing... That's why I said I hope your room's lights are good enough... Why make a hood if you don't want to get lights, just get a piece of glass and cover the thing, know what I mean.

Anyway, I've got no pics of the tank or hood, as my girlfriend's PC crashed the other day and we can't download the driver for the camera. I'll be sure to post some pics if I manage to get hold of a camera, for sure.

My tank's dimensions are 36 long by 18 high by 12.5 deep. And yea, good choice with the paint, I know that it will reflect a lot of the light. What brand did you use? I couldn't find any that was non toxic, but that was just me...

 

[sammydee]

I won't be planting the tank - its a marine one. There will be plenty of ambient light in the room to work on it I'm sure.

I expect the white paint I used was highly toxic, but it will be liberally dowsed in three layers of yacht varnish and silicone, and be protected by a covering piece of perspex, so I doubt there will be any ill effects.

Didn't have time to take pictures of the inside tonight. What did you do to hold up the hood on the edges of the tank? I used cubes of wood around the edges.

 

[Discomafia]

What did you do to hold up the hood on the edges of the tank? I used cubes of wood around the edges.

Same thing. Not cubes, more like rectangles though... Two each lengthwise, and one each on the left and the right. They're screwed in 2 inches above the bottom, and are 3 or 4 inches long, hope that gives you an idea of what I'm talking about.

Realised your tank was going to be marine after my last post but couldn't be arsed to edit the post.

Also, won't the white paint lose it's reflecting effect if it's covered over with a few layers of silicone? Why not get a proper reflector or buy some mylar and make your own? Good reflectors can increase the light going into the tank by 50%, or so I've heard!

 

[sammydee]

I'm not going to cover the paint with silicone all over - just the edges, to stop water getting to the glue. Got some updated pics:

That's the inside of my canopy. You can see it's a complete mess, but nobody's gonna see it so what the heck.

You can also see my ingenious ( ) way of mounting four fluorescent tubes extremely cheaply and effectively. See the holes in those wooden blocks? I'm gonna put a cable tie through the holes, around the tube to hold it on. Not pretty, but very cheap and effective, and it will not rust.

What do you think?

 

[sammydee]

Ok it's finished now - all siliconed and varnished up:

Well I like it anyway...

 

[konrad05]

you could have done it like this for a hinged joint, but I guess taking it off isn't a big deal since it's only a 20 gallon top...

where it's split in half and the halves fold on top of each other, easy to do too, just cut it in half and screw in some hinges

 

[Cute-n-Fury]

very nice konrad i like the look of yours