Hex Hood

[ORayRay]

I looked but its kinda hard to find decent lighting that is 16", so hey why not diy, but i figured if i was gonna do it might as well make a whole hood.
started out with a 2' by 2' by 3/8 piece of plywood from hardware store for $3 cut it to the size of the rim in my tank, then got 2 pieces of 1/2"x6"x4' and had it cut into 8 1/2" pieces.

Then I screwed the 8 1/2 pieces vertical to the edges of the hex piece of ply making a hood

Now i have to get some molding to fill in the corners, and attach my lights and some led for moon lights, then paint it to match my tank.

 

[atomiclord]

Looking good so far!

 

[ORayRay]

alright got a little work done today, so far so good. i brought some quarter round to cover the edges, also got some aluminum for my lights.
before I could glue on the quarter round i had to make sure it was all straight, which is wasn't so i had to make some brackets for it
started with a 45

then bent it to 120

and screwed it onto the hood

got the 1/4 round, good fit but not perfect

glued it in place and sanded it to a smooth edge

then i needed something to reflect some light off the roof of the hood so i bought this L shaped piece of aluminum

then flattened it out

put in a vise and bent a new shape into it

 

[ORayRay]

bent it to a shape i wanted

remember kids thin sheets can be a little sharp

 

[ORayRay]

well i got it almost done now, painted it and cut an opening in the hood.
This is how is sits on the lip of the tank, o so snug

Heres a pic of it on the tank

Looking at it from the front, seeing the opening i cut

from the side

with the cover off

and with the cover flipped back like it will be when i attach the hinges

came out pretty good i think, just need to touch up the paint, attach the hinges, and then work on my lighting

 

[atomiclord]

I. Want. One. Please?

 

[ORayRay]

thanks, i pretty close to wrapping things up, put on the hinges, and a knob

Here is my main light, its an 85w CFL, and I will be complimenting the 85w with 2 20w coralife 50/50 CFL

13w CFL Vs 85w CFL

Made brackets for my lights and so far put in 2

its going good so far, just need to finish mounting the last coralife

 

[NeverEnoughWater]

Wow thats awesome. You make it look easy.

 

[ORayRay]

believe me it was pretty easy, i am in no way good working with wood, but if you take your time, it comes together a little easier

 

[tikimask05]

nice job! i had to make my own hood once also ( a 65 corner hex) just make sure u line the wood with either plexi-glass or some type of moistue barrier cause all ur nice wood work will bend and warp eventually......

 

[ORayRay]

thanks, i have taken that in to cosideration, so i put down the reflectors, and wired it all up roughly for now. and she works, I'm down one bulb at the moment, so I'm running a 85w CFL and a 20W coralife 50/50, I will add another coralife sometime in the next week, and ill be swapping out the 85w for a 105w, with the bulbs im gonna get it will bring me close to 5w per gallon
heres a pic of just one 50/50

and running he 85w and one 50/50

and a pic with the lip open

 

[ORayRay]

I picked up a project box from radioshack, im goin to use it to house the switches and wiring. Ive decided to use 4 switches.
1- main 105w
2- 2 20w 50/50
3- led moon lights "they are on there way"
4- cooling fans "still need to find out where to mount them, open to advice"
since my moonlights and the fans fun of 12v i will run a adapter to go from 120-12v and will hardwire it in the project box, here is a diagram of how im gonna wire it up

 

[blasterx]

That looks great! Be careful with that thermometer tho, they can break and spill lead in to your tank, this happened to me once.

 

[ORayRay]

That looks great! Be careful with that thermometer tho, they can break and spill lead in to your tank, this happened to me once.

Thanks, and really hmm, looks like ill leave it out of the tank

 

[atomiclord]

Wow. Okay the girlfriend wants a seahorse tank so I'll be making one of these setups too soon! I'm really impressed!

 

[ORayRay]

thanks, I've almost got all of the wiring done, I've been taking my time heat shrinking all the connections, but so far so good, what is is then pic are 3 of my 4 switches, the 2 on the left are my 120v controlling the main light and 50/50, the 1 on the right next to the hole is my 12v for the moonlight and the empty hole is missing a switch for my cooling fan. and the black box on the bottom left is my 12v adapter going from 120v down to 12v for my moonlights and fan. the switch box will be mounted remotely under the tank in the cabinet.

and here is what it wil look like mounted

 

[kee]

All I can say is OMG!! It looks FANTASTIC!! As a fellow hex tank owner I know how impossible it is to find a hood - and when you do it costs a mint! You have inspired me to try my own!! Thank you so much!!

Great job!!

 

[ORayRay]

Thanks Kee. You should build one, but try to plan it out, i kinda winged it and hit some bumps, but got over all of them so far, and need any help just pm me and ill be happy to help any way i can.

Im almost finished with it all, only thing left is to mount the switchbox and add a cooling fan. Got my moonlights up and running, $12 on ebay for 6 lights pre-wired in waterproof pvc strip and an adapter to run them.

 

[kee]

that is simply awesome!! Believe it or not, I don't want the lighting built in (at least I don't think so lol- if I do it myself) but I want the canopy to in essense sit on top of everything- (like a hat lol). I do have one question- wee you able to get the wood cut at the store? Or did you cut it yourself? I just want the pieces cut in advance (I will pay the price- I nor my husband have tools - nor do we want any ) so I want everything cut and then I put it together and paint it.

Thanks so much for your help!!

kee

 

[ORayRay]

they only thing i had to cut was the top, the hex piece of plywood, it wasnt fun, the rest was cut at Lowes, it would have been a lot easier if it was all cut at the same time and i used a miter saw to cut the corners, if you wanted someone else to cut it i would call a local cabinet shop and ask them if they could cut it for you, just make sure all the measurements are correct