# [Wet Thumb Forum]-We built my stand and canopy yesterday.



## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

Like the topic says, my cabinet maker friend and I build my stand and canopy yesterday. That was quite an experience. I had estimated a few hours to build.....it took over 8. But it turned out beautifully. I am just waiting today for the rain to stop and the sun to come out to start painting. I didn't have any film for my camera, and I haven't purchased a digital one yet, so I don't have any pics of construction but I will take some of the assembled product.

There was one minor mishap while we were working. A friend stopped by to hang out while we were working and he wanted to see what I was using for lighting so I grabbed the 36w AHSupply bulb, still in the box. Well, I picked it up, wrong end down, and *slip* *crash*. That was a quick way to spend $21. And I had only turned it on once. And everyone said that PC bulbs last over a year.
















Toby told me he could build whatever I wished, all he needed was a set of blueprints to tell him what it would look like and such. I did better than that. I spent about 2 hours just drawing up the 'prints. What can I say, I am the anal-retentive construction type. I even figured every single cut that was to be made. After all my work, only one cut ended up 1/8" off.

Anyways, grand total so far (no paint yet)

$80 for lumber, screws, wood filler, hardware
$60 for AH Supply PC kit
$21 for PC bulb I broke
$20 for beer (probably why I broke the bulb, hehe)

Pictures to come.

Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.

[This message was edited by Jon Mulzer on Thu June 12 2003 at 09:00 PM.]


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## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

Like the topic says, my cabinet maker friend and I build my stand and canopy yesterday. That was quite an experience. I had estimated a few hours to build.....it took over 8. But it turned out beautifully. I am just waiting today for the rain to stop and the sun to come out to start painting. I didn't have any film for my camera, and I haven't purchased a digital one yet, so I don't have any pics of construction but I will take some of the assembled product.

There was one minor mishap while we were working. A friend stopped by to hang out while we were working and he wanted to see what I was using for lighting so I grabbed the 36w AHSupply bulb, still in the box. Well, I picked it up, wrong end down, and *slip* *crash*. That was a quick way to spend $21. And I had only turned it on once. And everyone said that PC bulbs last over a year.
















Toby told me he could build whatever I wished, all he needed was a set of blueprints to tell him what it would look like and such. I did better than that. I spent about 2 hours just drawing up the 'prints. What can I say, I am the anal-retentive construction type. I even figured every single cut that was to be made. After all my work, only one cut ended up 1/8" off.

Anyways, grand total so far (no paint yet)

$80 for lumber, screws, wood filler, hardware
$60 for AH Supply PC kit
$21 for PC bulb I broke
$20 for beer (probably why I broke the bulb, hehe)

Pictures to come.

Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.

[This message was edited by Jon Mulzer on Thu June 12 2003 at 09:00 PM.]


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## TekMate (Jun 1, 2003)

Sounds like it will be very nice can't wait to see it.


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## kherman (Apr 7, 2003)

AWESOME!

So, how big is the tank (diensions and gallons)? Just curious.CAn't wait to see the pics!

Are you painting or stainging the wood?

------------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/kfh227- go there and see my future fish section to see what I have planned for my next 100+ gallon tank.
Note: I havn't maintained the site lately.


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## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

The tank is a 15H. It is 10 x 20 x 14.5 It is just a tall version of the 10 gallon. I decided to paint the wood. Flat black to match the other decor in my office. Hopefully I can get some pics after I get my new bulb and get it all set up. I will warn everyone in advance though that right now the aquascaping would best be described as "chaos"







.

Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.


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## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

Ok, first day with the PC lights. I came home this evening to find my aquarium temp at 82 degrees. Not cool. It has been at around 78 and I would prefer to keep it at 76 but my heater is one of the dual temp Marineland units. 78 or 82 are my only choices. So I am actually thinking about rebuilding the canopy sometime this week because I realize a few flaws in my design. Think I should add some fans? I looked over the post on the silencer fans and was thinking about adding one on each end. One pulling air in and one pushing it out. Would that be adequate? It actually may be overkill but oh well.

As for the canopy design, I would like to suggest to everyone who plans on making their own to think about how much of an opening you need for tank maintenance. I thought I had all kinds of room till I had it mounted on the tank. It won't be bad till it comes time for water changes and then I can just slide it back a little bit but I believe I will redo it anyways. Just to have something to do.









Also the way I built it the lighting is a little too close to the water for my tastes. I used a 1x6 to construct the walls of the canopy. I think I will go with 1x8 this next time. I also made the top out of 1/2 plywood mounted inside of the 1x6 frame, and added strips of 1x3 to the inside to screw the lights to. With the 1 inch overhang on the tank it only left me with about 3 1/2 inches for the lights. I will have to sit down and do some rethinking of this whole thing. What bugs me the most is not having enough room to work on the tank really. I may keep it basically the same except put the plywood on top of the 1x6 frame (gives me another 1/2") and then use strips of 1/2" plywood to screw the lights to (gives me another 1/4") and then make it into something like a 60/40 break and I would have as much room as I did with my Eclipse system. If you don't get what I mean by that, when I open it 40% of it would hinge up and 60% would stay on the tank. Make sense? I will have to do some drawings and math to see what I come up with. *sigh*

Bottom line being, if you plan your own DIY project like this make sure you account for cooling and openings for maintenance. What I have now would work fine, but I am a bit of a perfectionist and overthinker.

If anyone has any thought or opinions to voice I would be glad to hear.

Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Jon,

Do you have a glass top under that hood or is it open underneath? How much light are you putting in it?

The wood you're using sounds fairly heavy for a small hood. It seems like either 1/4 inch plywood or particle board would allow you a little more freedom. Good plywood would still let you stain and clear coat the outside of the hood -- once you figured out how to treat the edges. The particle board would have to be painted or maybe laminated.

The hoods for my 10 gallon tanks use NO flourescents. They were built from 3/16 inch hardboard and a very small amount of clear pine. They cover all but about 2 inches of the tank top and that seems to be enough to keep things from heating a lot. They're strong enough to stand being dropped 4 feet over and over and they don't weigh much at all. The hoods aren't much to look at, though.


Roger Miller


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## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

Yes, I have a glass top. It has a 1x36 Bright Kit from AH Supply in it.

Yes, I overbuild EVERYTHING, but I wanted something substantial. And I also wanted to easily be able to trim it out. It is in my home office so I needed something that was very nice looking to compliment my decor. So I decided on the plywood with 1x2 and 1x3 trim that we used a 1/4" roundover bit in a router on. All in all everything turned out REALLY well. I went with a satin black painted finish.

After sitting down here and drawing everything up (I am a madman when it comes to blueprints







) with some adjustments I can build a new frame out of 1x6 (doutb the old one would be able to be reused as much glue we used, hehe) and do some adjustments and get 2 inches of space from reflectors to water. My design just needs a little tinkering.

I am going to go with the 60/40 split though.

As for the strength, I could drop everything 40 feet and the only thing that wouldn't survive would be the aquarium.







 Just night have to touch up some paint afterwards. lol

It is completely enclosed, front, back and sides.

Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

I started on my canopy today for my 100g. I think I may have spent 8 hours at Home Depot. hehe

I'm building the base frame from 1x4's that sit on the aquarium. The edges are glued and screwed and then there's metal supports for the inside corners. I haven't put on the supports yet, that's the point at which I am.

1x8's will attach outside of the 1x4's to form a lip over the front and sides. Whether the lip covers the rear depends on whether I have a design flaw in the frame. Oops.

The top will have an attached 1x8 in the rear portion, with a hinged 1x12 in the front.

I picked up some vinyl bumpers that will soften the blow when I close the lid and I got a wooden handle for the lid.

I've got 5 silencer fans that will go in the rear. I'm planning to have 4 blowing out and 1 blowing in.

I'll probably also have vents at each end.

I've got two of the AH 2x55 lights. I'm allowing for possibly adding two more sets in the future and also for adding a 13W morning light and a 13W night light (red).

I'm considering painting the inside of the hood with marine white and then filling in with plexi mirrors where I can.

I'm taking pictures and hope to put them up on the internet at some point.

Any suggestions about any of the above, anyone?


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## kherman (Apr 7, 2003)

Welcome to the DIY world! You should start a thread, especially if you're going to add pics later.

silencer fans for cooling. I got them too. Have you turned them on yet? TOTALLY SILENT! As long as you have the air flow figured out, 5 should be fine. I'm using a total of 8 in my 120.

The part that scares me is the 1x4 framing material. I'd really have to see what you're doing, but it sounds scary.

Plexi mirrors...source please









For the moonlight, I'd consider the blue instead unless you already bought the bulbs. That's my personal preference though, so don't look to deeply itno that comment









Good luck!
Karl



> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Ranch West:
> I started on my canopy today for my 100g. I think I may have spent 8 hours at Home Depot. hehe
> ...


------------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/kfh227- go there and see my future fish section to see what I have planned for my next 100+ gallon tank.
Note: I havn't maintained the site lately.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

What is your concern about the 1x4 framing material?

I haven't purchased the power adapter from Radio Shack yet, so I haven't tried the fans yet. I'm sorta flying by the seat of my pants. I'm figuring on having 4 flowing out and one in, all in the rear of the canopy. At each end of the canopy, vents.

I don't have a source for the plexi mirrors yet. I read about that in a DIY message somewhere, posted by someone building a saltwater canopy. He said a professor told him the best reflective color would be white, so he painted the inside white, but if he really wanted reflection, use mirrors, so he added mirrors where he could. Sounded like a good idea to me.

I thought the fish such as catfish that move at night might be more active under red light than blue, but I don't know that for certain.

Once I get the pictures online and everything, I will start my own topic. Just trying to compare notes in this thread for now. Maybe I'm sorta off topic, I don't know. I apologize if I am.


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## kherman (Apr 7, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Ranch West:
> What is your concern about the 1x4 framing material?


Well, it sounds like you're using the sides of the stand(1x8) to carry the load to the floor, so the 1x4s are more for holding the 1x8s in place. That should be OK. If the 1x4s are being used to carry the load of a 100 gallon tank (1000 pounds) I'd be concerned. The only way to really tell if there is an issue is by posting pics. Just remember to use some cross bracing to keep everything square.

Maybe it's just that I overbuild everything and hearing 1x4 and 100 gallons in the same sentence scared me











> quote:
> 
> Once I get the pictures online and everything, I will start my own topic. Just trying to compare notes in this thread for now. Maybe I'm sorta off topic, I don't know. I apologize if I am.


I don't see much of a problem with your post. Don't worry about it. Are you taking in-progress pics so we can see the various phases of construction?

AS for hte fans, I still have to go buy the AC/DC adapter I need. I actually ran them with 9 volts instead of 12 volts, but I still think 12 volts will be ULTRA-quiet. If not, I can always drop them to 9 volts...

------------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/kfh227- go there and see my future fish section to see what I have planned for my next 100+ gallon tank.
Note: I havn't maintained the site lately.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Oh, my! I guess I didn't make it clear. My project is CANOPY only. I bought a stand at the LFS. I didn't have any special needs with the stand. For the canopy, I need to house the AH lights. So, no, my 1x4's are not supporting 100g of water!!! The stand I previously built for a 135 had 4x4's through most of the construction!! The 135 didn't work out in my current house, but that's a story for another day.

So, the 1x4's rim the top of the tank, the 1x8's attach to the 1x4's and cover the four sides. There will be a 1x8 in the rear of the top and a 1x12 in the front of the top. That way, I don't have to glue the pieces together, the 1x8 will be permanent and the 1x12 will be the hinged lid.

Yes, I'm taking pictures along the way.


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## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

4x4's???







Geez, and I thought I overbuilt everything.







How did you move that into the house? A medium-sized forklift? hehe You either have LOTS of strong friends or you built it in place.....

----------------------------

15XH, 36W PC, RFUGF, DIY CO2

Crypts lutea, cilita and wendtii "bronze, "sunset" hygro, pennywort, wisteria and a banana plant









Soon to add XP-1 and ditch the RFUGF for Fluorite or Onyx Sand


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## kherman (Apr 7, 2003)

Heheheh,

That clearsup hte confusion 100%









4x4s WOW! Actually, I almost used them for the stand I'm building for my 120. I opted to use 2x4s instead. SHould work out fine.

Jon Mulzer,
I have a thread with my stand construction in it. I estimate the stand at 100 pounds.



> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Ranch West:
> Oh, my! I guess I didn't make it clear. My project is CANOPY only. I bought a stand at the LFS. I didn't have any special needs with the stand. For the canopy, I need to house the AH lights. So, no, my 1x4's are not supporting 100g of water!!! The stand I previously built for a 135 had 4x4's through most of the construction!! The 135 didn't work out in my current house, but that's a story for another day.
> ...


------------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/kfh227- go there and see my future fish section to see what I have planned for my next 100+ gallon tank.
Note: I havn't maintained the site lately.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

The 135 stand was a project in which my Dad participated. He's definitely a belt AND suspenders type of guy. You're right, that was one heavy stand with the 4x4's. I usually got a strong person on one end and a dolly on the other and it was still heavy. But, it never collapsed! lol


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## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

Better to be safe than flooded.









----------------------------

15XH, 36W PC, RFUGF, DIY CO2

Crypts lutea, cilita and wendtii "bronze, "sunset" hygro, pennywort, wisteria and a banana plant









Soon to add XP-1 and ditch the RFUGF for Fluorite or Onyx Sand


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by kherman:
> Plexi mirrors...source please
> ...


I'm still looking for the Plexi Mirrors. I found a place that sells it in FL, but they sell it by the 4ft x 8ft sheet for about $140. Didn't really want that much.

I'm still looking for the flat white marine non-toxic sea water proof epoxy, too.

I went back to the article where I found these suggestions and the person's email address is no longer good.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

I went by the Fish Gallery in Dallas today. There's a guy there who is really knowledgeable about building canopies. He politely suggested that painting the inside is probably not the best idea. He directed me to a plastics fabricator to get some white plastic to line the inside of the canopy. That sounds like a good idea to me. Paint is likely to last only a couple of years. Plastic should last 15 or 20 years.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

The plastic lining in all the commercial strip lights I've owned yellowed and got brittle within a few years. I get about the same performance out of paint. Of course, I can repaint any time I feel like it.

How are you going to line the canopy with plastic?

Roger Miller


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Roger, 

I haven't gotten that far yet. lol

I'm considering using silicone to seal the lining into place, but I don't know if that will work or not. Any suggestions, anyone?

I think the plastic in the strip lights has a shortened life because of the proximity to the heat. I'm using AH Light Kits and Silencer fans, so I think the heat issue will be greatly reduced.

I will be looking for a plastic that will be heat resistent and highly reflective.

Of course, it will be a few years before I know how this pans out.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Ranch West,

If you're using AH Supply kits then it doesn't make much difference how you line the inside of the canopy. The main thing you want it to be is moisture-proof. The reflectors do most of the work.

I haven't had much luck getting silicone to bond to plastic. You might need to screw the plastic to the canopy.

Try checking with a local plastics supplier for recommendations. The one I used here sells in large quantities, but they gave me a scrap of white teflon (about 1/2 square foot) in exchange for a donation to their front office coffee fund.

Roger Miller


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Roger, 

That's some good thoughts. Thanks.

While I know the reflectors do most of the work, I'm thinking that there may be a lot of deflection off of the glass, so I'd like to send that light back down again.


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