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Anyone have plans for DIY Fluval EVO 13.5 custom hood?


MInanoTank

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My EVO is closing in on a year old now.   The only thing I would really like to improve on is the hood / lid. 

 

I have currently modified the stock Fluval lid with added lights - a set of TrueLumens Pacific Blues, a set of TrueLumens White/Blues and an LED strip of blues (for moonlights).

 

Over the year - due to salt creep I have had to replace each of those sets of lights at least once.   I just noticed this morning that the TrueLumens white/blues are starting to lose LEDs, so they're going to need to be replaced soon.   The first time, I did not not silicone the lights well and the white/blues died in about 2 month.   The second time, I siliconed them well, and they've lasted about 9 months now, but are also starting to fail.

 

I would like to build a hood that would include a glass "lens" for the lights to keep the water / salt off of them.    But it would also need to be easily removed to feed corals, include a feeding hole / feeding door for the fish, as well as give easy access to the rear chambers for maintenance.

 

I'm also wondering if maybe there is a way to make a plexi "lens" that would go over the lights in the current hood, to protect them from water.

 

Has anyone done anything like this?   Any images, or plans you could share would be much appreciated.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Christopher Marks

@MInanoTank were you able to find any solutions? Post a photo of the underside of your EVO 13.5 lid if you can.

 

Have you considered removing the lid entirely and using a light that hangs from above? You would probably want to add an automatic top-off unit to compensate for increased evaporation, but it would open up your lighting options a great deal.

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I already have an ATO.   But I really don't like the look of a tank without a hood.  I kind of like as much of the equipment to be hidden as possible.  AND ... I'm getting incredible growth on both SPS and LPS corals with the lighting system I've come up with - and it's not very expensive to do what I did.   TrueLumens BLUEs on the left, mixed on the right, moonlight strip on the right.

 

I've kind of got a general plan in my head for a hood.   It would be a small frame to go around the rim of the tank, then a box w/ a glass bottom on it to sit on top to house the lights, with a piano hinge on one side to allow it to be opened for feeding corals and fish.   The glass would be siliconed in place to keep the lights away from the water, the top of that would be removable if the lights needed to be replaced / worked on.   Probably going to leave a little space in the front for a feeder door (to quick feed the fish), and allow some ventilation.   I'm thinking about including some computer fans in the area to actually move air over the surface of the tank.   A separate box would sit over the equipment chambers in back to cover those.   A good friend who lives in Cleveland, and is great at woodworking, is going to help me with it in the Spring.   I've got to draw up some plans, so he can look them over.

 

IMG_2041.thumb.JPG.96e13170c5554c49d6e936920f71666b.JPG

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Christopher Marks

Sounds like a good plan. Years ago it was quite popular to build canopies that covered the top of tanks and housed lighting, it's a good solution. Wood is always popular, but acrylic and textured ABS plastic are nice sleek options too, and use the same tools as wood working.

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I thought about that as well - instead of building a whole new hood - just building a riser for the current hood - like a frame to go around the tank, then put a piece of glass / plexi on that to protect the lights.   I could just put the stock hood on top of the riser then.

 

Wish I knew someone with a 3D printer - I'd draw it up and print it out in black plastic to match.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, I might have found a different solution to my problem ... submersible LED lights.

 

IMG_2977.thumb.jpeg.5854a2aeab20d5f2a20bb2702a753f8d.jpeg

 

My TruLumens blue&whites quickly went from about 1/3 not working to completely not working over the weekend.   I took a chance with this submersible 8W LED blue&white strip - it's kind of like an LED strip inside of a sealed test tube.   I wasn't sure it would fit in the lid, without going into the water - but it sits just about 1/4" off of the water line, just installed with the suction cups.   When I've got some time, I think I can remove the suction cups and just super glue it in place, and maybe get it another 1/8"-1/4" higher.   It came with a standard DC line connector, so it is plugged into my Current USA Pro Timer, just like the TruLumens was.

 

After that worked out for me, I needed to replace the blue LED strip I was using for moonlights, because that strip was down to about 1/2 of the LEDs working.   So, I ordered a GloFish submersible cycle light from Amazon to use for moon lights.   I plugged it into the power supply line / Fluval light timer for the existing blue LED strip that I was using for moonlights - which I think was a higher voltage, and apparently fryed the cycle changer switch - it is now stuck in ALL lights on mode - 1 white LED (which I covered up with some black electrical tape), 6 blue LEDs and 8 black light LEDs are all on.   I like the light it creates at night - the addition of the black light really makes the corals pop at night.   This GloFish strip is really thin - no problems making it fit above the water line!

 

The all blue TruLumens appears to be fine for right now - I really over siliconed those when I had to replace them in the summer.   If they ever die, I'll get a set of the "test tube" LEDs in all blue, and replace them with that.

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 2/5/2020 at 2:35 PM, MInanoTank said:

So, I might have found a different solution to my problem ... submersible LED lights.

 

IMG_2977.thumb.jpeg.5854a2aeab20d5f2a20bb2702a753f8d.jpeg

 

My TruLumens blue&whites quickly went from about 1/3 not working to completely not working over the weekend.   I took a chance with this submersible 8W LED blue&white strip - it's kind of like an LED strip inside of a sealed test tube.   I wasn't sure it would fit in the lid, without going into the water - but it sits just about 1/4" off of the water line, just installed with the suction cups.   When I've got some time, I think I can remove the suction cups and just super glue it in place, and maybe get it another 1/8"-1/4" higher.   It came with a standard DC line connector, so it is plugged into my Current USA Pro Timer, just like the TruLumens was.

 

After that worked out for me, I needed to replace the blue LED strip I was using for moonlights, because that strip was down to about 1/2 of the LEDs working.   So, I ordered a GloFish submersible cycle light from Amazon to use for moon lights.   I plugged it into the power supply line / Fluval light timer for the existing blue LED strip that I was using for moonlights - which I think was a higher voltage, and apparently fryed the cycle changer switch - it is now stuck in ALL lights on mode - 1 white LED (which I covered up with some black electrical tape), 6 blue LEDs and 8 black light LEDs are all on.   I like the light it creates at night - the addition of the black light really makes the corals pop at night.   This GloFish strip is really thin - no problems making it fit above the water line!

 

The all blue TruLumens appears to be fine for right now - I really over siliconed those when I had to replace them in the summer.   If they ever die, I'll get a set of the "test tube" LEDs in all blue, and replace them with that.

 

I am interested in doing something like this myself. Did you find a light strip that worked well?

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