This is my first attempt at a DIY hood and i feel it turned out ok, but there are some things i'll take into consideration next time. Here are some pix of the progress. .
building material: all was purchased at lowes for $100. Because of the size and shape of the hood there was a lot of left over material. I had the thick stuff pre=cut at lowes.
The base of the hood:
starting to sheet it, I used 1/8'' birch.
finished sheeting with the bottom trim in place. I also just tacked the back part to the frame.
three holes for the lighting. *other holes were cut later for the filter tubes and feeding holes.
Finished product:
Lighting (3 dual compact flourescent can lights)
On the tank (the light isnt that yellow...the bulbs were warming up in that pic
)
It looks kindof odd right now, but will look good when i get the stand skinned and trimmed That will be my next obnoxiously long post 
building material: all was purchased at lowes for $100. Because of the size and shape of the hood there was a lot of left over material. I had the thick stuff pre=cut at lowes.
The base of the hood:
starting to sheet it, I used 1/8'' birch.
finished sheeting with the bottom trim in place. I also just tacked the back part to the frame.
three holes for the lighting. *other holes were cut later for the filter tubes and feeding holes.
Finished product:
Lighting (3 dual compact flourescent can lights)
On the tank (the light isnt that yellow...the bulbs were warming up in that pic
)
It looks kindof odd right now, but will look good when i get the stand skinned and trimmed
That will be my next obnoxiously long post 
n a side note, I wished I had a nail gun and clamps when I did mine...lol makes things go alot smoother
amen brother