20 gallon long all in one

[tyty22]

i would like to hang it but there is alot of light spill that i don't like so i want to build a canopy if i can. my dad just doesn't like the idea of using wood and i can seem to explain it to him.

 

how can i build a wood canopy that is safe

 

as for air flow im deffinitily going to have a fan on each side.

[hcsceo]

i would like to hang it but there is alot of light spill that i don't like so i want to build a canopy if i can. my dad just doesn't like the idea of using wood and i can seem to explain it to him.

 

how can i build a wood canopy that is safe

 

as for air flow im deffinitily going to have a fan on each side.

 

Wood is fine. I can't think of another medium you could use anyway. Metal won't work for obvious reasons, acrylic will melt, glass just doesn't make sense, I think wood is your only option. If you look at all the hoods that are in the market they are all wood. If you want to make it really safe then use some spacers between your hood and your light when you mount it on the inside giving it some air space between the light reflector box and the wood but other than that have at it. You can also use a two part epoxy paint to paint the inside of the hood if you want to keep it from getting damage from water and salt. If you look at my thread with the twin 10 gallon tanks I have that MH 175 mounted in a hood made of 3/4 Oak Ply with no spaces just the reflector mounted directly to the wood.

 

There is one other option is you are worried about light spill. You could hang the light and build an opentop hood for the tank and have the light hanging down in it. That might be the best of both worlds as you will get the extra air circulation, cut down on your light spill, and make dad happy. I think I would still run fans on that as the humid air would be trapped in there and evaporative cooling power of the water would be diminished in that high humidity area causing water temp increases.

 

Hope this helps

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

One more thing. Looking at your light fixture your hood needs to be about 18-20 inches tall.

 

Steve

[tyty22]

thanks

 

i think i have an idea of what to do

 

but why 18inchs tall

 

i was thinking more 12inchs

 

how about this it just poped in my head.

 

i can make a 12inch box around the aquarium all but the back and top and make a bracket to hold the light above the canopy so its still 12inchs from the water surface

 

ill draw it up in a minute

[hcsceo]

12 inch tall would put the bulb like 8 inches from the top of the tank. i think it would be too close. you want at least 12 inches of surface clearance to the bulb. This extra height will also allow the light to make it to the edges of the tank at the bottom.

[tyty22]

i plan to do something like this

 

one i don't have a huge canopy

two not as much light spill

three hopefully the heat from the pendent won't completely heat the canopy

and four the light is 12inchs from the waters surface

[hcsceo]

i plan to do something like this

 

one i don't have a huge canopy

two not as much light spill

three hopefully the heat from the pendent won't completely heat the canopy

and four the light is 12inchs from the waters surface

 

yep that'll work. I think it meets all your design goals. I think you could go like 10" tall with that with the light on top which would put the bulb about 12" from water surface. Good work.

 

Steve

[tyty22]

well i went to lowes last night and got all of the supplies i remembered ( i forgot to get hindges)

 

and framed it up last night it came out pretty good now i just need to cover it with some ply and add two doors. which im going to make plain and simple. hinged on the top so they swing up for access to the tank.

 

after that im going to make the bracket for the light. i changed up the design a bit so its much more simple and easy. and it will be able to slide back and forward when needed

 

ill post some pictures later today

 

oh ya and i finally bought the tank itself haha so when my equipment gets here i can start building the main point of this thread an all in one 20 long.

[hcsceo]

Updates?

[tyty22]

Yes updates ive been gone the weekend but i did make some progress.

 

i covered the canopy frame with some ply

both long sides are doors

the front side has some ply to cover it im going to install a fan soon as i get one from my dad

and the back is uncovered

i also moded the fuge light to fit inside

 

PICS PICS PICS

i changed my design to hold the light so it is much much simpler and still can be moved forward and backward

i will paint it back as soon as i install the fan

i will cut the acrylic soon and start to put the tank together this week and hopefully my equipment will show up soon.

[tyty22]

My package arrived today with my equipment

and my dad also got me a fan he had laying around its a 4.5inch fan which works great fast but quiet i installed it in the canopy tonight and i will start painting tomorrow

and then i will get started cutting the arcylic

 

i bought a koralia nano which is incredibly SMALL!!

a maxijet 1200 for the filter pump

and a blue luner light for moon lights

[tyty22]

i got lots of work done today

i cut the arcylic with some help for my dad

then i pieced it all together and started glueing it all together

 

i used to some left over egg crate to make a shelf for the sponge. next time i order online ill get some filter floss but for now im using and aquaclear 50 sponge i had lying around.

 

i used the router and router table to make the ... filter comb i guess you could call it ... the slit..y things...

worked really well

 

then i started painting it all with krylon fusion

 

but becuase i glued everything first the baffles in the filter area made lines which i didn't like at all

i tried to paint over them on the outside NOPE still no good

 

so i had a peice of acrylic left over to make another false wall to go in front of the other one i used the router again to make it fit nice then i used the rotozip to cut out a hole for the pump

and i Painted it UP BUT..........Its still drying so we will see then

 

i aslo painted the canopy

 

ok here are some pictures

these lunar lights are really bright

 

Oh one question how long does it take kylon fusion to fully cure?? the can doesn't really say??

[hcsceo]

Give the krylon 48 hours and you should be good for water. Everything looks great.

 

Steve

[tyty22]

what about silicone? i haven't opened it yet but i thought i would ask?

 

Is there any one else out there? i feel like its just you and me lol

 

POST something you lurkers

[greatXss]

what about silicone? i haven't opened it yet but i thought i would ask?

 

Is there any one else out there? i feel like its just you and me lol

 

POST something you lurkers

 

Haha, i am a lurker I dont have anything credible to put into the thread so ive just kept quiet

[dtfleming]

I would give the silicone a good 48 hrs to cure, make sure you have all the seems siliconed well.

[hcsceo]

48 to cure and a secret for me is to sqeeze out a little bit of silicone from the tube when you are done. when it dries you can easily pull it out and keep using the bottle. Looking good

[moneyman6891]

I wait till the smell is gone, thats when its cured, it takes about 48 hours. Tank looks great so far.

[evilc66]

Looking great. Can't wait to see it with water in it.

[tyty22]

ya me too!!

BUT i not for a couple days because im going to my cottage soon so no silicone until im back.

unless i do it now before we leave ..... CYA

[tyty22]

Ok so after i ran off i siliconed up the back wall before we left so im hoping to fw water test it monday night or tuesday. 48 hours will be monday at 5pm

so stay tuned for pictures

 

also anybody have any tricks to leveling a aquarium stand on unlevel carpet? the stand itself is solid and level. its just the carpet and tack strip are being losers!

[disaster999]

my friend used a penny method and put pennies under the legs.

[tyty22]

makes sense and would work but i would have like a dollar worth of pennies

but it would solve the problem with all the extra pennies when the are no longer in use

 

hmmm.....

 

i take a picture to show just how unlevel im talking

[tyty22]

i have been thinking .... about an diy auto top off. i had planed on adding a auto top off to the tank later on when i had some extra money.

BUt tonight i got to thinking. if im correct the solana aquarium has a simple top off which is just an over turned bottle filled with fw water and when display water evaporates the water drops below the bottles nozzle the bottle empties until the bottles nozzle seals up again.

Please correct me if im wrong

but can someone point out the pros and cons of this method

 

there must be something im over looking because i haven't seen many people use this method

 

well if all goes well, couldn't i just use a solid bottle place the nozzle just a little below the waters surface and tada auto top off ....

 

any thoughts??

 

oh by the wy im planing to do a fresh water test tomorrow since the tank still had a vinger smell to it

andddd im in need of some lr and ls so send me a pm if you have some for sale

adddddd i posted a wtb thread in the livestock forsale and i got a pm from jewbilee about some black tahitian moon sand he has

 

what do you guys think about black sand? i took a look around at some tabks with the samesand and i like it

[disaster999]

that would be a really simple way of doing a ATO, but you would have to constantly add water to the bottle since there would be a size limitation. it would be the same just manually add water to the tank.

[tyty22]

i see hmm..

i would need to find a good size jar/bottle or a water jug.

like the one a1rabbit used in his top off thread. it looks big enough to hold a few days worth of top off water but small enough to fit nicely into my canopy

a1rabbit's top of thread

ill look at the store next time im out

or maybe just a 2litter pop bottle or gallon milk jug

 

oh by the way im fw testing in a few minutes stay tuned and wish me luck