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Aquarium Advice Freak
Well, I finally finished (OK, 95%, but it's good enough for now) my canopy. I used AHSupply PC light kits (2x96, 2x55) to get to about 300W of light, which in this configuration should be close to high light. CO2 is on the way.
I'm no Norm Abrams by any stretch of the imagination (actually, my girlfriend is the woodworker, but I just had to do this myself). However, I am very happy with the design, and quite pleased with the end result. I took it as a compliment when she told me she wouldn't have done anything different, just slower and better.
Remaining tasks are to find a piece of glass or acrylic to put on the ledge below the lights (it slides in from the back like a drawer bottom), install the handles, build the moon lights and do some touch up work on the paint.
I don't have a lot of detail shots during construction, but these two should let you see the basic structure (it is upside down in these pictures, with the front to the left):
Here's a shot with the light kits installed:
These two shots were taken with the camera's flash, and the canopy lights off:
And finally, no flash and the canopy lights on - this thing really lights up the room when it is on!
I'm no Norm Abrams by any stretch of the imagination (actually, my girlfriend is the woodworker, but I just had to do this myself). However, I am very happy with the design, and quite pleased with the end result. I took it as a compliment when she told me she wouldn't have done anything different, just slower and better.
Remaining tasks are to find a piece of glass or acrylic to put on the ledge below the lights (it slides in from the back like a drawer bottom), install the handles, build the moon lights and do some touch up work on the paint.
I don't have a lot of detail shots during construction, but these two should let you see the basic structure (it is upside down in these pictures, with the front to the left):
Here's a shot with the light kits installed:
These two shots were taken with the camera's flash, and the canopy lights off:
And finally, no flash and the canopy lights on - this thing really lights up the room when it is on!