DIY Canopy Plans & Ideas!?

[titoav15]

Hey Guys,
I was thinking about building a canopy for my 55g tank. I have a black (oak i believe) stand. I want to build a canopy match it. I have a 48" wave point lighting system that i would like to put in it. Please help me out here, I looked on the net and still dont know what to do?!?! Since my lighting system doesnt have leds for night time it would be nice to put it in the canopy.
I would appriciate any info, plans, pics, etc.
Thanks,
Alex

 

[jsoong]

A canopy is just a box that sits on top of the tank, nothing too special in the design. Just make it big enough to house the lights, with an air gap for heat dissipation (or maybe a fan or 2).

This is one example:
A Simple Build-It-Yourself Aquarium Canopy

Mine is similar, except I have it hinged only at the front 1/3 (with an acrylic lid) - easier to open, and you still have light to see with .... My entire back consists of 2 rails, & is totally open in between for air & heat movement.

I built the canopy so that the inside dimension of the canopy is 1/8" larger than the OUTSIDE dimension of the tank. The canopy then sits over the tank on cleats. This arrangement covers the black plastic trim of the tank (& match my DIY stand), plus the overlap prevents the canopy from slipping off the top. Others have the canopy exactly the same size as the tank so it sits on top. I don't think it is as stable, but might match some stands better.

 

[InfernoST]

 

[titoav15]

Thank you jsoong and InfernoST for the posts, you have given me some great ideas!

 

[Blueiz]

When we built our canopy for the 125, we used a hinge to lift up the front of the canopy so feeding and minor stuff in the tank would be easy and another so that the top could be lifted in the middle for ease of access to do tank maintenance without removing the whole canopy.

Here is a picture so you can see what I'm talking about. The canopy isn't finished in this picture, we had to add more support and attach the lights inside of it and stain it, we were just trying the fit out.

 

[Wreckdiver]

InfernoST I think we had the same idea I built almost the exact same thing, the idea was to make it match the existing stand.

 

[InfernoST]

My intent was the same, to make it match the stand here are 2 pics of the finished product (I also modified the stand so it would cover the lower frame of the tank).

 

[Blueiz]

Great job!

 

[InfernoST]

Thanks Blueiz

 

[Blueiz]

Did you stain it, if so, what color did you use?

 

[InfernoST]

Did you stain it, if so, what color did you use?

I did stain it, using Bombay Mahogany Polyshades by Minwax. The stuff is a pain to apply because it's a 1 step stain/polyurethane.

 

[jcmelski]

That is a sweet looking canopy InfernoST.

 

[jsoong]

I did stain it, using Bombay Mahogany Polyshades by Minwax. The stuff is a pain to apply because it's a 1 step stain/polyurethane.

You did a beautiful job!

I will never use Polyshades again ... blotches & a pain to get on evenly. Much better (and faster in the end) to use a penetrating stain & then poly separately.

 

[InfernoST]

That is a sweet looking canopy InfernoST.

Thanks, I tried.

You did a beautiful job!

I will never use Polyshades again ... blotches & a pain to get on evenly. Much better (and faster in the end) to use a penetrating stain & then poly separately.

Thanks, I'm with you on that one, I'm never going to use it again either because it is a real pain to apply (A lot of unmentionable language was used while applying this stuff). I chose it because I couldn't find that color in a regular stain not to mention I had already done my stand with it so I was stuck with it for this project. Maybe I'll try mixing some different colors of ordinary stain next time.

 

[Wreckdiver]

Here is a pic of my aquarium with the canopy very similar to infernoST

 

[InfernoST]

Here is a pic of my aquarium with the canopy very similar to infernoST
View attachment 21713

It sure is similar, looks good man.