Pic's of my new "towering" hood

[Anonymous]

Below are some pics of the new hood that I just finished building. The purpose of building the new hood was to make a hood tall enough to have the MH lamps 8" above the water. My old hood looked exactly like this one except it was only 6" tall. I had to use acrylic lenses to keep the bulbs from getting splashed with water. Those lenses were a PITA.

 

[Anonymous]

I also added parabolic reflectors that were on sale at hellolights for $29 each. They are sweet! I also added a porcelin socket for my 25W GE Party Light that I use for moon light simulation controlled by eLightMaster.

I used l brackets and tee's with stainless steel nuts and bolts to make a new bracket to stand the VHO endcaps off the hood at the same level as the MH bulbs.

I used a chamfer bit and my new router table to make the trim pieces to match my stand.

 

[Anonymous]

I put screen across the back of the hood so that I will never have a fish jump out again! I did not put screen where the overflow section is. I figure a fish is not going to jump that far. This gives me access to that end of the tank for feeding without raising the hood. No more bling=ding people at feed time!

I added a feed door at the end opposite of the overflow so that I can feed from either side.

In the picture below you can see how I added a cross member turned out, so that I would have a place for the clip-on fans to be installed without the fan interfering with the screen on the inside.

Overall I am very pleased with the way this hood turned out considering it was my first attempt at wood working. I have my garage fairly well setup now and am looking forward to my next project, the DIY calcium reactor in the Maco class. Woohoo!

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

WooHoo :!:

Not bad at all. I am still waiting for my friend to build mine and this gives me some more ideas.

How about a photo with the room lights off and the tank lights on.

 

[hfmann]

Very nice Louey,

You've given me some great ideas for my new hood. See you in the DIY class. Using some of the skills we learn there, I'm planning on making acrylic brackets for some of the offset elements.

Hal
_________________
Mercedes 600

 

[-JB]

Looks very nice. Very clean looking, good job!

 

[imow]

Looks good...What type of screen is that.....looks metal :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

imow said:

Looks good...What type of screen is that.....looks metal

It is metal, or aluminum. I got it at HD. I'm not sure, but who cares? If I have to replace it every few years it will be worth it is some fish are saved.

I wonder if I could find plastic screen somewhere? That would be better!

Louey

 

[texasreefer]

I would build a door in the front of the canopy. That way you can just open the front door to feed w/o having to raise the entire top. The last one I built I did it w/ a front door, and had the top and front lift together to make it easier to work on the tank. When I feed the front door is used and when you need to do maintaince you raise the top and front so everything is out of the way.

 

[dick182]

I think you did a great job, but i do have to agree with texas reefer. It must be tough to reach into the bottom of the tank, you will have to remove the entire hood to get down there

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is a real PITA to try to reach the bottom without taking the hood off. I can reach it standing on a stepping stool. I thought about a door on the front, but couldn't think of a good way to do one.

That really is the only down side to this hood that I have noticed so far. The next time I take the hood off, I'm going to notch a couple of small holes on the back bottom brace for the cords to my powerheads to pass. That way I don't have to take the powerheads out when I remove the hood. Then taking the hood off won't be to much trouble.

Thanks for all of the kind words!

Louey