DIY Floating canopy

[rsach]

I am working on building a floating canopy for my Elos 120XL tank, the plan is to seat the 48" Aquatic life T5 hybrid in there along with two XR15 G4 pro and 1 XR30 G4 pro.
I got some ideas from various post on reef2reef and by watching some YouTube videos, but I couldn't find a build thread for canopy using PVC trim board, so I thought of starting one.
My initial plans were to use a 3/4" pine board and to wrap it with vinyl as suggested in one of the threads and mounting it using wodden dowels, but due to limited space and in order to not go through the pain of making sure that the wood is properly sealed I took a different route.
I would say that this build is based on mixture of ideas from different build thread and I have added some of my own ideas to it, so wish me good luck.
I'm excited to finally contribute to this great reefing community. Wish me good luck.

 

[rsach]

Material purchased
2 x 3/4" thick PVC trim board 8' x 7.5"
1 x 3/4" thick PVC trim board 8' x 1.5
Kregs pocket hole jig
1-1/4" pocket hole screws.
Fusion PVC cement
2 x swivel TV mounts

Pictures to follow

 

[Royal_pudding]

Look forward to see how it goes for you
Maybe I can learn a thing or two!
gl

 

[MacKrell]

Pics?

 

[rsach]

Pics?

Sorry about the delay, I know this was long overdue, was tied up for a while so couldn't get to it.

 

[rsach]

Got the PVC trim boards cut to size from Lowes, the aquarium is 50" long and 26" wide. One thing to account for is the 3/4" thickness, so they should be cut 1.5" shorter if it to be an exact fit.

The Kreg's pocket hole jig was set at 3/4" to match the thickness. I did test it on an extra piece to make sure that the drill bit didn't go through. Made several pocket holes few inches apart. I wanted to keep the smooth side facing out, so made the holes on the rough side. The Kreg's clamp was defective so I just used the ones that I had, the jig did slip a little during drilling but after properly tightening it with the clamp it was fine. The drill bit went through the PVC board like butter.

I also made pocket holes in the smaller trim which I was planning to lay the T5 hybrid fixture on.

I wanted to put triangle braces to provide extra support to the canopy. I drilled the pocket holes in the trim prior to making the cut as the pieces would be too short if the holes were drilled after the cut.

 

[rsach]

I don't think this part is needed, but I used PVC glue to join the trim boards, they were held together using the 90 degree corner clamp. I then used the pocket hole screws, I also used a level to double check that the boards were leveled.

The triangle braces were then glued and screwed in followed by the 1.5" trim. I did not think about the pocket hole positioning on the triangle brace, the support strip and the trim boards while making these holes else I would have made a fewer holes in the trim board. In some cases they were very close to each other.
btw the triangle braces were screwed in 1" from the bottom so that they were not visible.

I decided to use two TV mounts for extra support although the canopy was not really that heavy. Since the canopy would be 3" away from the wall I went for the full motion swivel mount. I don't think a full swivel mount is needed as I had to keep it pushed all the way to the wall.

I did not use the long arms that came with the TV mount as the main bracket was good enough. I marked the studs in the wall and figured out the positioning of the brackets on the canopy accordingly, need to account for the height as well. I attached it to the canopy using short machine screws and nuts bought from hardware store. Also, drilled a hole on the side for wires

I thought about adding a support strip in the middle, I tested it out with the T5 hybrid seated, it would have been pain to remove the T5 fixture with a strip in the middle of the canopy, so I decided not to add it.

Before

After

It turned out pretty good, was kinda scary in the beginning as I was not sure if it will stay up although I had used two TV bracket which can support 80 lbs each The canopy and the T5 hybrid along with 2 XR15 and 1 XR30 weight around 50-55lbs. I still need to work on hiding the wires.

 

[mudbugmike]

@rsach how's it holding up

 

[rsach]

It's holding up well, no issues so far. I think the two TV mounts are plenty, it was scary at first..lol The only one issue that I see is if you were to redo the aquascape for some reason, it might be a pain to get big structures in an out.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I don't think this part is needed, but I used PVC glue to join the trim boards, they were held together using the 90 degree corner clamp. I then used the pocket hole screws, I also used a level to double check that the boards were leveled.

The triangle braces were then glued and screwed in followed by the 1.5" trim. I did not think about the pocket hole positioning on the triangle brace, the support strip and the trim boards while making these holes else I would have made a fewer holes in the trim board. In some cases they were very close to each other.
btw the triangle braces were screwed in 1" from the bottom so that they were not visible.

I decided to use two TV mounts for extra support although the canopy was not really that heavy. Since the canopy would be 3" away from the wall I went for the full motion swivel mount. I don't think a full swivel mount is needed as I had to keep it pushed all the way to the wall.

I did not use the long arms that came with the TV mount as the main bracket was good enough. I marked the studs in the wall and figured out the positioning of the brackets on the canopy accordingly, need to account for the height as well. I attached it to the canopy using short machine screws and nuts bought from hardware store. Also, drilled a hole on the side for wires

I thought about adding a support strip in the middle, I tested it out with the T5 hybrid seated, it would have been pain to remove the T5 fixture with a strip in the middle of the canopy, so I decided not to add it.

Before

After

It turned out pretty good, was kinda scary in the beginning as I was not sure if it will stay up although I had used two TV bracket which can support 80 lbs each The canopy and the T5 hybrid along with 2 XR15 and 1 XR30 weight around 50-55lbs. I still need to work on hiding the wires.

Mount looks excellent!!!

 

[dstockwell]

Looks good

 

[RedoubtReef]

Nice work! Where did you get the board?

 

[rsach]

Nice work! Where did you get the board?

I got them from Lowe's

 

[rsach]

@rsach how's it holding up

It's holding up well, no issues so far. I think the two TV mounts are plenty, it was scary at first..lol The only one issue that I see is if you were to redo the aquascape for some reason, it might be a pain to get big structures in an out.

 

[wil-yuhm]

I got them from Lowe's

Nice!

Question, did you DIY your rimless/screen lid? May I inconvenience you if so what/where was the material purchased?
I have a rimless tank of odd dimension no premade lids are available. A "Lexan" glass lid I made was UV protected and blocked too much light not to mention the evaporation/water formed on the lid blocking even more. My Diamond Golby jumped from the tank and suspect any successor might as well jump without a lid.

Thanks!

 

[Dom]

Nice floating Canopy build! I particularly like how you've suspended it over the tank. But shouldn't the canopy be resting on the tank?

 

[rsach]

Nice!

Question, did you DIY your rimless/screen lid? May I inconvenience you if so what/where was the material purchased?
I have a rimless tank of odd dimension no premade lids are available. A "Lexan" glass lid I made was UV protected and blocked too much light not to mention the evaporation/water formed on the lid blocking even more. My Diamond Golby jumped from the tank and suspect any successor might as well jump without a lid.

Thanks!

Yes, it's a DIY screen. I bought the Window Screen Accessory Frame Kit from HD, it comes in different sizes and come with the spline. I bought extra square corners. The black screen netting was bought from BRS. You can also use bird netting if you want, but the quality is not that good. I hope this helps.

 

[rsach]

Nice floating Canopy build! I particularly like how you've suspended it over the tank. But shouldn't the canopy be resting on the tank?

Thanks! I wanted to keep it floating in order to have an easy access to the tank, it's easier to feed the fishes, you don't have to remove it when you're rearranging stuff. Also, there is not much heat generated because of the gap. Plus it looks cool..lol

 

[Leon821019218]

I stumbled on this build on YT and now I find it here It looks really cool! I'm thinking about doing something like this. I have quite high humidity in my house and I think that one of the main reasons is my tank since its open top. But I do not want to put a glass lid on it because I might lose light in the tank and i think that it must be cleaned constantly which is not something i see myself do. Plus gas exchange will be an issue... But since water vapor rises upwards, in my mind most of it will be 'caught' inside the canopy and not escape into my living room. In your experience do you think that that is true? Do you need to top of less frequently? And is there less humidity in your house because of this canopy? Lot;s of questions, I know

 

[rsach]

Before adding the canopy, all I had was a screen and 3 Radions on a rail. I think the ATO lasts about the same amount of time even after adding the canopy, maybe a day less since I also added 4 x T5s. I don't see any changes in the humidity level.
Have you considered using a dehumidifier, I wonder if it'll help during the days when the humidity level is high.