wow! very nice.....hmmmm, maybe i can tear up my floor to make a nice stand like that....no...better not.
6 Custom Oak Stand and Canopy Salvaged Flooring
- Thread starter edtriou
- Start date
Thanks everyone for your nice compliments.
If you're interested, here are some quick pics of the lighting, which is built into the lids of the canopy. I debating lighting for some time, researched this site forever, and finally came up with 3 constraints; I liked T8s (energy, cheap, little heat, buy them most anywhere), I wanted the option of doing plants (ie: 2-3x), and I want two lids on the 6' span (for ease of opening/cleaning).
With 200 gallons, T8s, 600 watts, and no more than 3' bulbs, the options were limited, this meant custom lighting as well. I'm starting to realize that this hobby really isn't fish keeping, it's an education in all the trades; woodworking, lighting, electrical, structural engineering, plumbing, gardening, chemistry...
Here's the inside of the lid, each holding 12 T8 3' bulbs.
Just used standard roll flashing, along with pre-bended corners.
Yep that's a volt-meter, used it like 3 times since college, grin.
To cover up all the wiring, there just happened to be pre-bent flashing with a perfect lip to hide wires inside. Although spent way too much time at HD finding it.
Used similar flashing to hide the ballasts from the front view (and protect them from water moisture).
Walla, here's the inside of the two lids.
It's only at 16 bulbs currently (~400 watts), which will give me 2x for now. Although it should be able to light up 24 of them, if needed (assuming I order a couple more ballasts).
I'm starting to see the light at the end of this project. Although if that goes like most things in this hobby, that probably means I'm just getting started...
Ed
If you're interested, here are some quick pics of the lighting, which is built into the lids of the canopy. I debating lighting for some time, researched this site forever, and finally came up with 3 constraints; I liked T8s (energy, cheap, little heat, buy them most anywhere), I wanted the option of doing plants (ie: 2-3x), and I want two lids on the 6' span (for ease of opening/cleaning).
With 200 gallons, T8s, 600 watts, and no more than 3' bulbs, the options were limited, this meant custom lighting as well. I'm starting to realize that this hobby really isn't fish keeping, it's an education in all the trades; woodworking, lighting, electrical, structural engineering, plumbing, gardening, chemistry...
Here's the inside of the lid, each holding 12 T8 3' bulbs.
Just used standard roll flashing, along with pre-bended corners.
Yep that's a volt-meter, used it like 3 times since college, grin.
To cover up all the wiring, there just happened to be pre-bent flashing with a perfect lip to hide wires inside. Although spent way too much time at HD finding it.
Used similar flashing to hide the ballasts from the front view (and protect them from water moisture).
Walla, here's the inside of the two lids.
It's only at 16 bulbs currently (~400 watts), which will give me 2x for now. Although it should be able to light up 24 of them, if needed (assuming I order a couple more ballasts).
I'm starting to see the light at the end of this project. Although if that goes like most things in this hobby, that probably means I'm just getting started...
Ed
That's a hella lot of light man 
I'm running 80W on my 200 and it's pretty bright. But then, I'm not doing plants...
I'm running 80W on my 200 and it's pretty bright. But then, I'm not doing plants...
Brilliant work. I would love to be able to do work like that, but I don't have the space for the proper tools. I have all the tools I need, just not big enough ones. Like a big table saw, and whatnot. All mine are portable DeWalt tools.
