6 foot Light Canopy

[prophets]

Hey all...I'm going to build a 6 foot canopy for a 125 g tank, and was wondering has anyone made one that didn't weigh a ton?

I was planning to build it out of 3/4" birchwood, then stain it and poly it. But after much consideration thinking of using some other light wood, possibly paneling.

My plan was to frame it out first, this will be the support onto the tank frame itself, and skin it with the birch, but that sucker is going to be heavy and I really don't want to add extra weight. I figure using the 1/4" paneling from HD, I should be able to stain it and poly it, althoug I would most definitely need to do a lot of sanding on the panels.

Any thoughts?

 

[MilitantPotato]

Using 2x2 for support might be enough for the paneling, just build a box with supports every foot or so front to back. The paneling just decorative cover that way. You'd need to run another 2x2 attatched to the frame for the handle, but it should end up alot lighter.

 

[hmt321]

I built one out of 3/4" birch, one man can lift it but it is very un-weildy, it takes 2 people to take it on and off the tank safely. i would say that the whole thing weighs 30-40 lbs including lights and all

picts

here you can see the computer fans that move air threw the top

after i painted it and installed the fans

a close up of the fans, and part of a light

 

[instain]

I made mine out of ceder and it's probably 30 lbs or so. I sealed it up with polycrylic.

Pics in this thread.

 

[dodgefreak8]

here you go. Keeps your light away from the humidity and still gives easy access. Also 1/2" is plenty strong enough. Save some money and weight and go 1/2"

 

[prophets]

Thanks all for the input. I already finished the canopy..when I get a chance I'll post it.

Used 1/4" birch panels for the sides, front and back..the top cover I used 3/4" birch. Now the sucker is a lot lighter. Just need to stain and poly it and put in the fixture..hopefully tonite/weekedend.

Hey freak, too bad I didn't look at the replies sooner..your setup is sweet. With the flip up top just for the fixtures..makes it changing a bulb a snap. Love the stain color and that design on the front of it.

Oh yeah, htm321..I had the same plan to put in a fan to exhaust excess heat. I'm using a 120V fan instead, and probably put in some blue neon lights or leds for the moonlight effect.

 

[hmt321]

dodgefreak8,
did you have to anchor the hood to your tank? I scrapped my hood plan that was very close to that because i had a waking vision of the hood flipping off the back and busting the glass

my hood has a major flaw that it is hard to get at the center of the tank w/o removing the hood, other than that it works fine.

 

[dodgefreak8]

no need to anchor to the tank. It is up against the wall when up anyway so it can't flip back. also I put latches that stop the hood at a 90 degree angle when up. It is very stable and sturdy

 

[kazmir]

sweet i might do one as well good plan

 

[Bud8Fan]

I didn't build mine but it is a cool idea. Make it in two sections and utilize the trim to make it look like one piece.