canopy

[AprilnWill]

Finally gonna start posting about my canopy build. Its for my 75 and will hold 2 250w halides, 2 4ft fluorescent bulbs for actinic as well as a pair of fans to keep the tank cool.

 

[AprilnWill]

Heres a picture of the front and side sitting on the tank to see how hight it will be. Its actually going to be slightly higher, but this give me the idea that I'm going to like it.

 

[AprilnWill]

This is a shot of one of my jigs to cut the plywood straight using a circular saw.

 

[AprilnWill]

Heres a pic of the bottom section sitting like it will on the tank. Still need to cut out the holes for the fans, as well as the doors, but it gives the idea of what it will look like.

 

[AprilnWill]

Not sure if you can tell or not, but this is the top of the canopy with the smaller front, back, and side pieces also cut sitting on the floor. Since this picture I've started to put the smaller pieces on the top. I'll keep you posted on its progress.

 

[AprilnWill]

One more shot showing how the canopy fits over the overflow and return lines. If heat becomes an issue I can always cut out a section on the back to allow more airflow as well as add a fan to the sump under the tank, add a couple fans to the back of the canopy or last resort will be to use my router to make vents in the top itself.

 

[AprilnWill]

Just had to give it a test fit to see how it would look. This is the top and bottom section of the canopy. Top is complete, bottom still requires cutting for doors and fan holes then glued/screwed and attached to the top via a piano hinge. Okay, back to work!

 

[Anonymous]

Nice woodwork! I wish I was as good as you are....

 

[AprilnWill]

Thanks! Its not as hard as most people think honestly. I used to work in my grandfather's garage a lot when I was growing up, but in reality its not all that complicated to make sure you build something correctly. The hardest part is telling yourself to slow down when you need to. Its when I try to move to fast that I inadvertently measure something wrong or bump something out of alignment as I'm cutting. I've learned through those times to just take a break and slow down. Its not the end of the world if my build takes a little longer than I was hoping for. As a matter of fact, while taking pictures I messed up on this build. The photo showing the jig was meant to show me cutting the back panel of the canopy. Unfortunately I was more concerned about the picture and grabbed the piece I had just finished cutting for the front. Perfect miters were removed in a matter of seconds. I ended up having to make a new front panel that I wasn't as happy with but its still going to get the job done and so far I'm the only one that can see the flaw.

 

[AprilnWill]

Here's a new shot. This was taken this past weekend. I'm down to the painting/staining stage.

 

[kgross]

Looks great.

One thing I would have done a little different though, I would have hinged the whole front also. It is a pain to have to work over the top to get into the tank to do work, and the small holes with doors make it hard to get in to mount some corals or move stuff around. What you could have done, is put a 1x2 frame on the front of the canopy with one piece on the top and one on the bottom to set on the tank, then the front could be hinged to that frame so you could open it up when you needed more access, and did not want to get the step stool.

Kim

 

[AprilnWill]

I guess I could have hinged the front, it was a consideration early on, but I opted for no hinged front to keep it clean looking. I'm not one to rearrange my tank too much so hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me later down the road.

 

[AprilnWill]

Painted the inside this week and added the trim to the doors. Also found some hinges that will work well and installed them to make sure everything would work smoothly. Next step is stain.