Canopy Plans

[Anonymous]

I am in the planning stages of setting up a reef aquarium (my first). After a $2000 dollar quote from my LFS I'm looking for ways to lower my initial investment. Half of the 2k was for lights, so I am considering building my own canopy and stand for the tank, and ordering the MH's and flour. Does anyone know where I can find some plans on what I need to build? I want to get either a 60 inch or 72 inch long tank. Any other ideas of how to save money on the initial setup would also be appreciated.
TIA,
Dave

 

[Anonymous]

Are you going to use all live sand..If you are you could save a bundle by buying oolitic sand and seeding it with live sand or a denitrivore kit from IPSF.com and here is a website that offer diff. DIY canopys there is a cool cheap rain gutter canopy that looks really good and is cheap and stands http://saltaquarium.miningco.com/home/saltaquarium/msubdiy.htm

[This message has been edited by puffer (edited 25 December 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

welcome aboard reefer what size tank are thinking about? i would say and what do you want to keep in it? but lets say a min. of 5 to 7 watts a gallon most metal halide.and the rest vho,also don't forget to keep those halides up high and think about the heating of tank by these high output lights.on a 6 foot tank i would say 250 watt mh at 10,000 kelvin or 12,000 and then look to see where you need to fill in with vho's.well good luck and yes those lights cost money.look at some electrical suuply stores to get ballasts if you dont want to use those ice caps.just put some fans around them and they will be fine.

[This message has been edited by reef2 (edited 25 December 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

There are lots of canopy plans on the oz reef web site on the DIY page. So much DIY so little time.

 

[Anonymous]

Dave: I don't know what size tank you are planing on, but based on the 60-72 inch ling measurement you mention I will guess that is either a 90, 125, or 189 tank. I am currently in the research and planing stage of setting up a 180 gal. tank, and since I really hate to pay a penny more than what I need to, I am taking the approach as if this was a house construction proyect. I started out with a plan and have changed completely every piece of equipment I was planing on putting in, basicly because I have learned a few things and also because I have found some give and take to make it more efficient. For example, I was going to get a 200 gal oceanic tank and stand with dual overflows, but getting an All Glass 180 gal with 2 overflows and buying the stand and canopy from another source will cost me $300 less and I won't have to have another MH set up because the tank is 84 inch long as opposed to 72 inches like the All Glass. All I am loosing is 20 gal, but it is worth it big time. I was going to buy a power compact set up that was going to cost me near $1100 to get the amount of lighting that I wanted, but now I am getting sort of a retro fit unit with MH only and will put it inside the canopy. Total savings including the incorporation of 5!! fans is over $600!! I could go on and on. If you want, e-mail me and tell me what exactly it is that you want and what you are planing on putting in and I'll give you some suggestions. Ultimately you can do what you think is best for you.
Alberto ([email protected])

 

[Anonymous]

dimaggio
Check out All Glass's warranty and see if it is valid without purchasing their stand. Seems like I remember something about that.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the replies ... I found those sites very informative and they basically answered my questions. I see that I can get some 2x4's or 4x4's and make me a stand w/o to much trouble if I decide to go that route. I am still a little confused about the canopy, from what I can tell most canopies just sit on top of the tank, ie no other support? Also that if I order a canopy that handles MH it needs to be one of the "custom" or "special" ones ... I assume to get the extra height needed for the bulbs. I guess the thing to do would be to buy a "retro" kit before building a canopy ... kinda build the canopy for the kit. I guess if I saw a couple of tanks and how they were done I would not have the confusion I now have. I don't want to end up with something that "doesn't fit." Sounds like I need to forget about 175 W MH and start pricing 250 W

I'm thinking about a 135 or 180 gallon tank ... 72x18x24 or 72x24x24 ... I am kinda in the middle, I want some corals and some fish, which ones I am not sure of. I know that I will want to stay away from fish that eat coral.

I see there are over 12,000 posts in here so I have got a lot of reading to do ... seems like such a wealth of information. Again, thanks for all the input and I imagine I will have more questions soon.
Dave

 

[Anonymous]

Davo, Three quick ones. 1. Do use 250W MH in place of 175WMH, I know because we got the 175 and now I wish that they were 250s. 2. Go for the 72"x24"x24". The extra 6" front to back will make all of the difference in the world when you start aquascaping the tank. 3. Build your canopy and hang it from the ceiling by some nice looking chain. This helps a lot with heating problems and also allows you to get into the tank without having to move the lights and it also allows you to change how close the lights are from the water. These may not seem like big things but after you spend your money and use everything for a while you will appreciate all of it.
My $0.02 worth.

 

[Anonymous]

Aquaman ... If you have an adjustable height canopy, ie hung from the ceiling, what do you use to keep the light from going all over the room. Do you have like a cloth skirt around the canopy that you can adjust or do you have some sort of adjustable wood frame? Also to adjust it do you just get a person on either end and raise or lower it a few chain links? How many fans do you have on your canopy, or since it is not attached are there no fans? From what I can tell it is the same canopy you had on your 125g before getting the 200 ... right? Did you modify it for the extra 12 inches of length?

That sounds like a good idea to hang it from the ceiling although the wife kinda balked when I mentioned it.

 

[Anonymous]

Davo... Yes it is the same canopy from the 125. It was a tike long for the 125 and a tike short for the 200. It gives a place at each end for things that don't like a lot of light. I don't have any fans at all. I asked our head mechanical engineer at work where he thought I should put the fans and the vents and how many. He looked at my design and said that because of the shape of the SpiderLight reflectors I could drill a 2" diameter hole in the top at each low point at the end of each reflector. This is 4 holes per reflector. It works great and no fans. There is not much light spillover as the canopy is 8" deep and the SpiderLight reflectors focus the light pretty well. The canopy was designed for a tank that was 18" wide and now it is on a tank that is 24" wide and that helps also. There is nothing between the bottom of the canopy and the top of the tank, just air. This also helps with the cooling of the lights and tank because the heat is not trapped inside of the canopy and the top of the tank. The canopy is 8" off the top of the tank.

[This message has been edited by Aquaman (edited 27 December 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

I would build the canopy yourself. I used 1/2" medite with hp laminate on the outside. I put about five coats of polyurethane paint on the inside. The hood cost about $160 to make with two fans installed in either end. I used heavy duty foil as a reflective material but if I were to do it again I'd use a mirror finish acrylic depending on the type of lighting you choose. MH would probably melt the acrylic. You can order the materials pre-cut if you don't have a table saw but you will need a router.

 

[Anonymous]

Davo,
look into using spar-varnish instead of polyurethane for coating stand and canopy. This is the stuff they use on boats. I used it on a 55 gal. setup I had a while back. A friend of mine who is a professional furniture maker recommended it to me. HTH