Monday, July 07, 2003
June 25
This project was quite complicated, so I will try to get into as much detail for you as possible for the people that want to do the same thing, instead of shelling out hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars on a premade hood.
We started out with 1/4 inch poplar making the basic box shape to fit the tank snugly, with the back panel slightly higher than the rest of the box, as the box wont be covering the entire tank, because you need to leave room for the filter and the heater on the back. then, on the inside of the box you install a length of square wooden dowling, for the box to sit on the tank. then you need to put in about 2-3 pieces of larger lumber like a 1x2 for the ballasts. I went to home depot to pick up the ballasts, and the end caps, as well as a piece of 3/8 plexiglass to cover the tank, so that is anything happens to the lights accidently, the glass wont go into the tank. Next thing to do is get a piece of metal, the shinier the better, since you are putting that above the lights later on to reflect the light into the tank. now you want to bend the metal to the shapre of the box so it fits snugly but not too tight as it might warp the box you build as it did with mine at the beginning. if that happens, use some screws to hold the box together. after you have bent the metal to the right shape, you ned to cut notches out of the side of the metal for the end caps. here is a diagram of how to do that
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0 xxxxxxxxx|
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the x's are the part that you cut out
the 0 is where you place the screw when you install the end caps.
hopefully you get the basic idea here. there are notches in the end-caps for the metal to slide into, and you slide the end-cap into the slot, then when the ballast is in, you just place a screw at the back of the ballast so it cant move when it is installed.
Ok now that you are done bending and cutting the metal ( I forgot to mention that we used sheet metal for ours) you should install the metal into the wood box. make sure it fits correctly and install the end-caps into the slots. once you are done that, you need to install the ballasts. Now for me this was difficult, becuase i have absolutly zero expeerience in wiring anything, unless you count I.A. class in junior high experience :P so I got my friend to do that part, but basically you just follow the diagram on the top of the ballast and connect it appropriately. once you have that finished, you are basically ready to test the hood. It took us a couple of tries, because some of the end caps broke, so we had to take the back cardboard part of the endcap and fix it. it is very easy to do if your endcap isn't working. once you get everything working, all you have to do is paint it. I painted my hood black, since everything is for my aquarium is black. Now for the paint itself I would recommend a latex based paint since you want a water-resistant coat, if not waterproof. The only other thing I would like to mention is that if you do not want to use a plexiglass cover for your tank for whatever reason, make sure you use all waterproof items, especially the end-caps, and also make sure you buy the plastic sleeves for the lights themselves, because if for some reason your light decides to explode, you dont want the glass to go into the tank. I will try to post pictures for you so you can understand everything i have talked about.
The ballasts I purchased at Home Depot (model # RL-2SP20-TPC)
The metal cutout you need to make for the endcaps
another view of the metal cutouts
A clearer view of what I mean
These are the endcaps I purchased form Home Depot as well
another view of the encaps
This picture will give you a better understanding of what did with the actual hood, and how it is offset
This is a general overview of the lighting side of the hood
This is how the hood fits onto the back of the tank. you can also see the plexiglass I used as well
This is how the tank looks with the hood on
hopefully with these pics I have provided you will give a better idea of what I am talking about. I'm using 2 ocean sun bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs. Also in the "lighting" picture you can see a yellow piece of plastic. We used that plastic to cover the part of metal that was exposed so that we wouldnt get cut by it. The square dowling that you install will cover the other side of the metal, so don't worry about that.
This project was quite complicated, so I will try to get into as much detail for you as possible for the people that want to do the same thing, instead of shelling out hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars on a premade hood.
We started out with 1/4 inch poplar making the basic box shape to fit the tank snugly, with the back panel slightly higher than the rest of the box, as the box wont be covering the entire tank, because you need to leave room for the filter and the heater on the back. then, on the inside of the box you install a length of square wooden dowling, for the box to sit on the tank. then you need to put in about 2-3 pieces of larger lumber like a 1x2 for the ballasts. I went to home depot to pick up the ballasts, and the end caps, as well as a piece of 3/8 plexiglass to cover the tank, so that is anything happens to the lights accidently, the glass wont go into the tank. Next thing to do is get a piece of metal, the shinier the better, since you are putting that above the lights later on to reflect the light into the tank. now you want to bend the metal to the shapre of the box so it fits snugly but not too tight as it might warp the box you build as it did with mine at the beginning. if that happens, use some screws to hold the box together. after you have bent the metal to the right shape, you ned to cut notches out of the side of the metal for the end caps. here is a diagram of how to do that
|
|
|
==|
xxx=======
xxxxxxxxxxx|
0 xxxxxxxxx|
xxxxxxxxxxx|
xxx=======
==|
|
|
|
the x's are the part that you cut out
the 0 is where you place the screw when you install the end caps.
hopefully you get the basic idea here. there are notches in the end-caps for the metal to slide into, and you slide the end-cap into the slot, then when the ballast is in, you just place a screw at the back of the ballast so it cant move when it is installed.
Ok now that you are done bending and cutting the metal ( I forgot to mention that we used sheet metal for ours) you should install the metal into the wood box. make sure it fits correctly and install the end-caps into the slots. once you are done that, you need to install the ballasts. Now for me this was difficult, becuase i have absolutly zero expeerience in wiring anything, unless you count I.A. class in junior high experience :P so I got my friend to do that part, but basically you just follow the diagram on the top of the ballast and connect it appropriately. once you have that finished, you are basically ready to test the hood. It took us a couple of tries, because some of the end caps broke, so we had to take the back cardboard part of the endcap and fix it. it is very easy to do if your endcap isn't working. once you get everything working, all you have to do is paint it. I painted my hood black, since everything is for my aquarium is black. Now for the paint itself I would recommend a latex based paint since you want a water-resistant coat, if not waterproof. The only other thing I would like to mention is that if you do not want to use a plexiglass cover for your tank for whatever reason, make sure you use all waterproof items, especially the end-caps, and also make sure you buy the plastic sleeves for the lights themselves, because if for some reason your light decides to explode, you dont want the glass to go into the tank. I will try to post pictures for you so you can understand everything i have talked about.
The ballasts I purchased at Home Depot (model # RL-2SP20-TPC)
The metal cutout you need to make for the endcaps
another view of the metal cutouts
A clearer view of what I mean
These are the endcaps I purchased form Home Depot as well
another view of the encaps
This picture will give you a better understanding of what did with the actual hood, and how it is offset
This is a general overview of the lighting side of the hood
This is how the hood fits onto the back of the tank. you can also see the plexiglass I used as well
This is how the tank looks with the hood on
hopefully with these pics I have provided you will give a better idea of what I am talking about. I'm using 2 ocean sun bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs. Also in the "lighting" picture you can see a yellow piece of plastic. We used that plastic to cover the part of metal that was exposed so that we wouldnt get cut by it. The square dowling that you install will cover the other side of the metal, so don't worry about that.
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