Canopy or no canopy

[Chris_sasser11]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if there was any advantages to having a canopy bedsides visual aspects. I’m stuck between what I want to go with. What about pros and cons of no canopy.
Thank you all for the reply in advance

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I don’t like light in my face when I sit on the couch.

 

[dugthefish]

Seems like a canopy would be a big pain in the butt for any in tank maintenance. I'm on the fence, myself.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Seems like a canopy would be a big pain in the *** for any in tank maintenance. I'm on the fence, myself.

3 years in and no. I’m not even really in there that much.
Mine are both small too.

 

[bhuyett]

I can give you my personal experience since my tank is Rimless and started out with no canopy and now I wouldn't have it any other way. I do love a nice take that is rimless and has a nice light set up that makes it look like they are suspended in mid air. I had Radion Pros and hated the RMS arms because it causes the lights to sag and having had 3 over the tank I was very particular about them all hanging at the same height. Then you have to worry about your tank mates jumping out, I have multiple wrasses and was stubborn and had many carpet surf so going without something on top was not an option. Sure you can run the DIY screens.. but that ruins the look of a rimless tank. So that was a NO GO. So I broke down and built a Canopy that would allow me to get into the tank. Like the OP said, it can be a pain in the neck to do maintenance if not set up right. Then as another person stated they don't like the light leakage that happens with a rimless tank.

When I made my Canopy it flips up on the front and one set of my T5's and Reefbrite XHO LED bar also flips up with it. So my lights are out of the way in the front, and leaves plenty of room to get into the tank when needed. Or I can open one set of doors on the front for feeding time, and with the soft close hinges I don't have to worry about the doors slapping the Canopy and scaring the fish and making them jumpy.

If I had to do it all over again... when I upgrade, I will be running another canopy.

 

[KJAG]

Canopies. I think they look tacky/ cumbersome and are a distraction from the display. At least the standard diy wooden ones I’ve seen. Personally prefer builds that incorporate a hung or mounted light above the display. I have a 225 in wall so all my lighting is behind the wall, but when I set up my 52 cube it’ll be a hung geisseman spectra.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

I like the look of a canopy, & especially how a canopy prevents light from escaping & making the whole room glow
I made a light weight canopy so its easily removed, not that I've ever needed to remove it for maintance.

 

[Instigate]

I like a narrower floating canopy. Best of both worlds.

 

[jd371]

I hung the Aquatic Life fixture at first from brackets attached to a shelf above the tank, it worked but looked terrible with the wires hanging off the back. Recently during my vacation I decided to do something about it. I built a simple canopy out of 1 x 10's with 1 x 3's for the molding and 1 x 2's for the fixture to rest on inside the canopy. Came out nice and with the power strip inside the canopy I'm able to hide the wires with only a single wire for the power strip hanging off the back. I had it at around 8" off the water surface at first but it was impossible to work in the tank without hitting it so I increased the intensity a little and raised it to 11" and all is well.