# My new 6g tank and my DIY hood



## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

I just finished building a hood for my new 6g tank.

This whole project started when I won this 6g tank and a light fixture at a raffle at the last SCAPE meeting. The fixture that was given to me was a 55w cf 50/50 saltwater bulb. I am not up to the financial requirements of a nano reef so I decide to make a small-planted shrimp tank.

At the moment it just has a few rocks that I was thinking about using and some gravel I had lying around.

The hood is made out of scrap pieces of 1/8in plywood that was used to line the bottom of our cabinets. I also used the scrap edging and corner pieces from our cabinet installation to build the rest. It is structurally held together with small finishing nails and a lot of glue. I managed to attach a 20w 24" t8 fixture from my 29g tank inside my newly built fixture with the use of a few wood screws and some more scrap wood. I found the hinges used for the flap on a small balsa wood jewelry box I had lying around. I also used part of this box as corner supports since I couldn't nail together 1/8in plywood. I used the clips to hold the pieces while the glue dried.

The whole project was 0 cost to me and I think it looks pretty good and best of all (according to my mom) is it matches the kitchen. I realize it isn't perfect but I am 16 and not very experienced with making straight cuts with a saw and I tried circular saw than a saws all and finally the hand saw. I must admit this was a learning process and I would do a lot of things differently if I did it again but it was fun.


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## cwlodarczyk (Sep 18, 2005)

Lookin' good! It'll be nice to see it with something other than rocks in it. :slywink:


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Great looking hood. Better than anything I could ever make. Nothing like making things out of things "found" around the house. 

-John N.


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

Those where some fast comments. I to cant wait to put some live things in the tank. Thanks for the compliment on the hood. I love making things out of stuff I find lying around. I usually end up making a mess and wasting far more time than the project is worth but I do have fun doing it.  Atleast with this project I dont think I broke anything or glued anything to anything that it shouldnt be glued to, but I wont be sure until I finish cleaning up tommorrow.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

NICE haha too bad you aren't using the 55watt knock off. The thing about this tank is that it's long 2 feet is a lot of room for some shrimp. Good luck with this and your other project with the tek lights, I just got mine today and I'm so excited..


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## slickwillislim (Oct 11, 2005)

I cant wait to see some pictures of your tank turtlehead. Did you get starcoats for the tek, where did you end up buying it.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Yea, I was going to buy some ATi Sun bulbs too, but I haven't hear much about them so I just went with 4 Starcoats for 59$ shipped at aqualuxlighting.com. The ATi were also 2$ more and I had a budget so I went with the GE since everyones raving about them. They are the cheapest I have found thanks to Gomer who suggested it to me.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

That's a nice looking hood, for a very reasonablel price! Good job!


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## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

I was looking for that 55w light as well!!!


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