Thanks for the kind words everyone. The canopy is made by 1x2 not 2x4 so it is a little bit lighter. The reason I made it so strong is because I came up with a really crazy idea. If you guys look at the last picture with the canopy completed, there is an 8ft shop light right above the tank that has two 8ft bulbs that is about 1ft above the canopy.
I wanted to add two walmart underbed sliding bins that are really shallow but have a huge surface area on top, 40x20x6"H. I would add a separate pump that pumps water from the return end of the sump up into these two bins and I will be drilling an adding a bulkhead on each bin that drains back into my filter socks for another cycle through the sump before pumping back into the tank.
Basically its going to be a secondary sump. A sump of a sump. Using this method I was going to add Salvina Minima Floaters. They grow very dense and very fast since they are a floating plant. Compared to frogbit, dwarf water lettuce, duckweed, or any other floaters, I've noticed that they grow very packed and their leaves are small so more plants can fit per surface area but their rooting system is also larger than any other floating plant for my use. The only other one I would think about using is dwarf water lettuce since their roots can grow very large and very long but not as many plants can fit in one area compared to the salvinia minima.
If i did use salvinia minima, they only take up 2inches in the top of the bins, so I will have 4" of extra space in these bins, I was thinking I can either add more media which will increase weight or I could just add other plants that grow without being planted like anacharis. The whole point of this is to just take it one step further in my filtration and utilizing the shop light above my tank to help with removing nitrates sorta like those pothos plants people put in their tank. I assume salvinia spreads and grows very fast so they must be sucking up all the nutrients in the water
I would really like feedback on this hydroponic/plant filtering sump that I am thinking about doing on top of my sump. As for the weight of the canopy, It is actually really light and can be lifted in the air by two people for a short period of time enough to place it where I want on the tank without sliding it. Tank and stand is 60" high.
