Recent content by AprilnWill

Painted the inside this week and added the trim to the doors. Also found some hinges that will work well and installed them to make sure everything would work smoothly. Next step is stain.

I guess I could have hinged the front, it was a consideration early on, but I opted for no hinged front to keep it clean looking. I'm not one to rearrange my tank too much so hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me later down the road.

Here's a new shot. This was taken this past weekend. I'm down to the painting/staining stage.

Thanks! Its not as hard as most people think honestly. I used to work in my grandfather's garage a lot when I was growing up, but in reality its not all that complicated to make sure you build something correctly. The hardest part is telling yourself to slow down when you need to. Its when I try...

Just had to give it a test fit to see how it would look. This is the top and bottom section of the canopy. Top is complete, bottom still requires cutting for doors and fan holes then glued/screwed and attached to the top via a piano hinge. Okay, back to work!

One more shot showing how the canopy fits over the overflow and return lines. If heat becomes an issue I can always cut out a section on the back to allow more airflow as well as add a fan to the sump under the tank, add a couple fans to the back of the canopy or last resort will be to use my...

Not sure if you can tell or not, but this is the top of the canopy with the smaller front, back, and side pieces also cut sitting on the floor. Since this picture I've started to put the smaller pieces on the top. I'll keep you posted on its progress.

Heres a pic of the bottom section sitting like it will on the tank. Still need to cut out the holes for the fans, as well as the doors, but it gives the idea of what it will look like.

This is a shot of one of my jigs to cut the plywood straight using a circular saw.

Heres a picture of the front and side sitting on the tank to see how hight it will be. Its actually going to be slightly higher, but this give me the idea that I'm going to like it.

Finally gonna start posting about my canopy build. Its for my 75 and will hold 2 250w halides, 2 4ft fluorescent bulbs for actinic as well as a pair of fans to keep the tank cool.

update, I've decided to go strictly T5 on my lighting so the design of the canopy is a little clearer in my head now that I know what I'm going to be installing. April and I like taller canopies so it looks like the canopy will be 12-13 inches tall. I'm going to make it have a flat hinged top...

okay guess I'll just add to my earlier question- SE or DE. Whats your preference and why. Looks like initial cost for DE is more, does that mean its better in the long term or is it something thats not gonna matter all that much.

ultimate goal is to have a pair of 250w halide as well as a pair of T5 bulbs. Unfortunately I can't justify all that expense just yet. So its either halides or T5s to begin. It was just brought up that 6 T5s would be comparable to a pair of halides and I wanted some opinions.

I thought I was done with this and had set to get a nice pair of 250w MH lights for my 75gallon tank. However, someone has said that a 6 bulb T5 setup will be pretty close to a pair of 250s as far as light and par are concerned. After crunching the numbers it doesn't look like there is really...