# super easy light enclosure with pics!



## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

sorry guys i was gonna make this thread a while back, but things have just been chaotic lately. It has been about a month since this project has been finished but i guess its never to late to share it with ya. 
When i was looking to upgrade my lights on my 30 gallon, i was shown the AH supply compact fluorescent bright kits with the MIRO reflectors (special thanks to Seattle Aquarist for showing them to me!) Anyways, i bought the 2 x 36 watt bright kit along with 2 5500k daylight bulbs. Here is a pic of the two packages i received in the mail about a week later.










i never really thought to take a picture of everything that was inside but basically it just came with 2 MIRO 4 enhanced reflectors, one 14 ounce, solid-state electronic ballast that operates two bulbs, two moisture-resistant endcaps with cords, four bulb holders, one grounded power cord, wirenuts, screws and other hardware needed for putting it together, optional-use pop-in vent covers, snap bushing, UV resistant cord clamp and nylon spacers, and ballast operation information and wiring diagram which was very easy to read. I also requested to have them send me plans for an enclosure which i never ended up using.

Ok now onto the design. I decided to make this as simple as possible but still look good at the same time. If you ever get to know me, you will find that i am a really bad perfectionist so i spent way to much time on this light. I decided on a simple 5 sided box made out of 3/4" pine. My 30 gallon aga tank measured 36 and 1/4" across so I rounded that measurement up to 37" just to give me a little bit of breathing room. I needed it to be at least 5 and 1/2" wide and 3 and 1/2" high on the inside to comfortably fit everything inside. Here is a pic of all the pieces needed










The dimensions for all the pieces are as follows: top piece- 37" long by 7" wide (5 and 1/2" plus two x 3/4" thick sides), two long sides- 37" long by 3 and 1/2" tall (buy the 1 x 4" pieces of lumber instead of 1 x 6" and having to rip them down to size. Remember that actual dimensions are 3/4" thick and 3 and 1/2" wide. it makes it a ton easier haha), and finally the two short end pieces- 5 and 1/2" long by 3 and 1/2" tall. I made some really nice plans on google SketchUp, but unfortunately they got deleted . 
I made a rectangle out of the 2 long side pieces (37 x 3 and 1/2") and the 2 short end pieces (5 and 1/2" by 3 and 1/2). Please note that the long side pieces are on the OUTSIDE of the two short and pieces. Here is a pic to clarify










At this point in the project, i totally scrapped the pieces if pine in the picture before the last one for a couple reasons. 1. they were totally ugly and had a TON of black knots in them and 2. I made a stupid mistake on one of the long side pieces but I'll talk about that here in a second, and 3. i am a perfectionist especially when it comes to my aquariums. I made a trip to menards and bought a 1 x 8 by 48" long piece of select pine, and a 1 x 4" by 8 foot piece of select pine. They were both completely free of knots and looked beautiful. Again i will mention that the actual dimensions are different than what they are labeled. The 1 x 8" is actually 3/4" thick and 7 and 1/2" wide, and the 1 x 4" is actually 3/4" thick and 3 and 1/2" wide. The 1 x 4 was perfect for my purpose, but the 1 x 8 needed to be ripped to a final width of 7". Here is a pic of the 1 x 8










i thought this piece of wood had a lot of character and i really liked the grain pattern. After i had everything cut to size and how i wanted it, i started to put it together. I used a biscuit joiner to put it together, but if you are a beginner craftsman, i would not recommend using one because it is very easy to get confused on what side to join in order to make everything match up. That is the exact thing i did to mess up the long side piece i mentioned earlier, and i have been a craftsman all my life. If you are unsure of yourself, wood screws would be a safer and easier alternative. Everyone makes mistakes lol. I used waterproof wood glue to put it together just to be safe. Make sure everything is square before you clamp it down for sure! Here is another picture of the bottom portion of the project all glued together










close up of the end 









Just playing around with the placement of everything 









seeing how everything looks so far: the top is not attached yet









After everything dried overnight, i attached the top. Be sure it is an exact fit before you attach it though. It would be easy to have it not fit. I used the biscuit joiner to attach the top to the the sides just like before.

Top finally on









Whats the next step you ask? well you can probably guess..... SANDINGGGG Woo Hoo! Sanding is my favorite part  First i used a handheld belt sander w/ a 60 grit belt to even everything up. Then i switched to a 100 grit belt. After i got all the sides and especially the end grain evened up i hand sanded the crap out of it! haha first i used 100 grit, then 150 grit, then 600 grit, then finally 1000 grit. It was smoother than a baby's butt!!! but by all means you guys don't have to sand to that extent especially seeing that it took me about 4 continuous hours. That was just my inner perfectionist coming out haha.

Here is the enclosure after sanding for a bit and no i didn't router the edges, that is all hand sanding.









A few more pics after sanding...




























Alrighty then, now onto the finish. I would recommend using pre-stain wood conditioner if you decide to stain yours. I used it on mine. Here is what i did: 2 coats of pre-stain wood conditioner, 2 full coats and one touch up coat of stain polyurethane combo, then finally 3 coats of gloss polyurethane with a 600 and 1000 grit sanding between the 2nd and 3rd coats.

The conditioner, stain, and polyurethane i used 









After the first coat of stain i think









Close up of corner









After all coats of everything. Shiny!! 









Here is the 3/8" hole i had to drill for the power cord. Take into consideration where your power outlet is haha









I'm not going to go into detail about how i wired everything and put it in there. It was probably the easiest and fastest part of the whole project. I just made sure everything fit, cut wires to length stripped them, and put it all together according to the wiring diagram that came with it. Super easy.

Here is a picture of everything inside









And then turned on 









The picture doesn't do it justice. Just think of a continuous camera flash and you get an idea of how bright this beast is (thanks to the amazing reflectors. Without em its not very bright)
Ok im embarrassed by this photo so look away from the desk and inside the tank. Just putting it here to show how bright it is. My tank is completely redone now anyways.










And this is what unwashed Fluorite gravel does to your water bahahaha









Well there you go guys. One really expensive fancy wood box lol. I'm actually pretty pleased with this light so far. Kinda wish i got the 6700k bulbs though. Oh well i still like my 5500k's. Feel free to make any comments, suggestions, problems you might see, questions, etc... you know the drill haha. sorry this thread is so long and drawn out, but i think the pictures make it more bearable  thanks for lookin,

Ryan


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Ryan, 

You did a very, very nice job on that enclosure....nicer than mine! Nice finish on the wood.

I didn't see any pictures of your ventilation. I use glass tops on my aquariums. As a result, even though I did the "standard" AH Suppy DIY enclosure and even with a slot vent along the full length of the enclosure I had heat issues. Because the bulbs put out a lot of light (and heat) (along with the ballast) in the enclosure my bulb life was averaging about 6 months. I added some small plastic "standoffs" to raise the enclosure up about 1/4" above the glass tops and along with the upper ventilation slot the heat and short bulb life problem disappeared.


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## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

great job! the finish you used looks awesome


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

Thanks for the compliments guys! Seattle aquarist, I don't have any source of ventilation at the moment. Haha are you starting to see a pattern with my lights?  It did heat up a little when i had my whole glass top on there, but i took the top apart and now i only have one piece of glass all the way across the tank right in front of the filter to make sure it doesnt splash any water on my reflectors, bulbs, ballast, etc. Its worked pretty good so far and it doesn't seem to get all that hot. I'm sure ill pick up a few computer fans sometime and put one or two in both of my homemade lights. Thanks, 

Ryan


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## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

for simple ventilation, maybe drill some holes along the back. or if you do plan on adding some computer fans, i would then suggest drilling some holes at each end. install the fans inside if room allows.

have one fan drawing air in and the other blowing out.

cheers!


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

I don't think it would look good with a bunch of holes drilled in the back. I think once I get some computer fans, I'll partially take the light apart and router some holes in the back side and mount them inside so you can't see them. You can just hook the fans up to like a 9 volt ac/dc power supply correct?


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## Z400 (Mar 24, 2010)

Now jut build another to the depth of the tank, put a door in the front and maybe make it so where it opens with a section of the top as well, and you've got a very well made canopy.


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

^^ yesss! Great idea. Now all I need is another tank to do that with  haha


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## jasonak (Oct 26, 2010)

Nice job,good job of explaing and showing how to build it as well.My tank looked like yours as well but it was unwashed turface


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

^thanks! ya i was really wishing i had a nice canister filter after i put all that fluorite in there. Nice to know i'm not alone


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## jasonak (Oct 26, 2010)

I had a canister filter and it still took a week,lol


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

jasonak said:


> I had a canister filter and it still took a week,lol


hahaha! nice. I think it was about 4 days for my water to get completely clear. And that's just with a hang on back filter


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