Building a curved hood

[Anonymous]

Hi

I want a hood for my 54 Gallon Corner bow front which is shaped like a quarter of a pie

I have a couple of choices, right now there is a glass cover on the tank, it has the front part where the tank is curved on a hinge for access to the water.

1. Build hood that covers the whole top of the tank and is curved to match.

2. Build a hood that only covers the back portion and attach the hinged part of the glass to it.

Any opinions?

I have 2 Metal Halide lights I want to put in it (thanks to Vitz)

Oh, and on the subject of Metal Halide lights, can I put the ballasts far away? Like in the basement? or do the wires running to the bulb have to be a certain length

Here is a pic of my tank top


Thanks for any help

Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

One more question while we are at it

How far away from the water do Metal halides have to be?

thanks

Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

i like option 1

i would make something that covered the whole top and i would ditch the glass.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Pod, that is what I am leaning towards

Bryan

 

[Fl_Seagull]

A curved front of wood is possible. One way is to steam bend the front wood. Another way is to build up a curved front by laminating wood strips. I have even just used 1/8" plywood to form the curve.

The question is how much effort is this worth and how much important is the look? The 1/8" plywood idea doesn't give you a very sturdy look or feel.

 

[hdtran]

There's a maximum length of wiring from ballast to lamp, but I don't recall the exact number (on the order of 6 ft or so, but that depends on the ballast). So the ballast can be in the stand or on the wall, but I doubt that it can be in the next room. Something to do with transmission line impedances, I think.

Curved canopy would look really cool.

I too would be curious about how far one can put MH from water. I have a canopy with VHO, and can easily add more VHO (up from 420W to 750W of VHO for a 120g tank), but am toying with the idea of instead adding 150 to 300W of MH instead, if it won't burn the house down.

 

[Anonymous]

Here is a pic of my stand

I made it, and the shelf above makes pendants out

I can bend wood, I just was wondering how I am going to access the fish to feed them if the front does not open somehow, and if its curved, it will not be able to be hinged

thanks for the input so far

Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

So why don't you bypass the canopy Idea and just build something that would match your angled stand. Build suspened canopy skirt that'll be supported on the sides with supports that connect to your stand. Or something of the like. I think it will look funny with a gently curving canopy and an angular stand. It'll look mismatched IMHO.

 

[Anonymous]

How bout this

I build an angled one to match the bottom, and just big enough to fit inside where the glass is, and have something come out on the bottom of it to support it

Yeah, I like that idea better

It will be a couple of months, but I will post some pics

thanks for the ideas

Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a plan stan.

 

[Anonymous]

So why don't you bypass the canopy Idea and just build something that would match your angled stand. Build suspened canopy skirt that'll be supported on the sides with supports that connect to your stand. Or something of the like. I think it will look funny with a gently curving canopy and an angular stand. It'll look mismatched IMHO.

I agree!

 

[down&dirty]

I was just looking at some curved canopies at my LFS and the guy that builds them came up with a solution to the 1/8 plywood idea. He cut out two curves that match the outer diameter of the tank + a little fudge room. Then you decide the height of your hood so that the lights have plenty of room. Cut some 2x2 or 1x2 boards to make a frame out of the two curved pieces. Now this is not what you put on your tank but what you use to bend the wood. Then take several strips of 1/8 ply cut to size and bend them around the curve attaching them with clamps as you go. Inbetween each piece of ply use Liquid Nails subfloor adhesive to bond the pieces together. After 3-4 layers you have a thick, sturdy curved piece of ply that becomes the front of your stand. Just let it dry and remove the clamps. Build the rest of the hood as normal and attach the curved panel to complete. I can post more detailed instructions if needed and some drawings. Just no photos until I can afford a bow-front tank. The frame is common to what you will see on a construction site when they are doing brick work that has a curved top section.

 

[bigmac]

bending is way too much of a hassle,
I have a 72 bowfront, somewhat comparable to a corner.

My bow deflects about 8 1/2 in. what I did was take a 1x10 piece of board
and trace the perimeter of the bow and cut. perfect solid piece of wood, no bending for the top and bottom braces. then just put a few ribs running verticle along the bow and glue/brad nail a 1/8in sheet of wood across it.

PERFECT

 

[Anonymous]

I have decided to make my first canopy sometime this month out of CDX plywood. It will be temporary to see if I can deal with the cooling issues

I will post pics of the progress

Bryan