Hood question

[Tbird165]

I am going to build a hood and stand for my 55 gal.

The hood may weigh near 60 to 100 lbs. Now my question is can the tank handle that kind of weight or do I need to run braces up from the stand to help support the hood?

 

[CodyRVA]

What are you using and how are you using it to build this hood? Seems to be WAY heavier than necessary. I built a canopy for an 80 and its maybe 20 lb total, with the fixture.

 

[Tbird165]

What are you using and how are you using it to build this hood? Seems to be WAY heavier than necessary. I built a canopy for an 80 and its maybe 20 lb total, with the fixture.

I was thinking of using white pine 1x6 because I got a mess load of them just laying around. May just use the 1x6 to frame it. But that alone will be about 20 lbs

 

[CodyRVA]

There are many ways to go about it, but you can make a frame out 1 x 1 x (x). Much lighter and more than capable of doing the job. The canopy itself only needs to support the weight of the front facing panels and light fixture, assuming thats the intended use of the canopy/hood. In the example below, you could replicate this frame, and design the front facing panels to look however you want.

Example: http://s87.photobucket.com/user/Mahamotorworks/media/Canopy9.jpg.html

 

[Tbird165]

There are many ways to go about it, but you can make a frame out 1 x 1 x (x). Much lighter and more than capable of doing the job. The canopy itself only needs to support the weight of the front facing panels and light fixture, assuming thats the intended use of the canopy/hood. In the example below, you could replicate this frame, and design the front facing panels to look however you want.

Example: http://s87.photobucket.com/user/Mahamotorworks/media/Canopy9.jpg.html

Thanks that's around what I was thinking. But I was going to have the back closed of but I guess leaving it open will cut some weight.

 

[Tbird165]

There are many ways to go about it, but you can make a frame out 1 x 1 x (x). Much lighter and more than capable of doing the job. The canopy itself only needs to support the weight of the front facing panels and light fixture, assuming thats the intended use of the canopy/hood. In the example below, you could replicate this frame, and design the front facing panels to look however you want.

Example: http://s87.photobucket.com/user/Mahamotorworks/media/Canopy9.jpg.html

And it will be housing my lights

 

[CodyRVA]

And it will be housing my lights

Good deal, I would leave the back open, if you have jumpers (fish) just put some netting across the back. Leaving the back open will also help with removing heat from your lights, worth while if you're not using LEDs, but will definitely cut down on weight too. As long as you don't go over board with the frame, it should handle the weight. You can always wall/ceiling mount your lights.

 

[Tbird165]

Good deal, I would leave the back open, if you have jumpers (fish) just put some netting across the back. Leaving the back open will also help with removing heat from your lights, worth while if you're not using LEDs, but will definitely cut down on weight too. As long as you don't go over board with the frame, it should handle the weight. You can always wall/ceiling mount your lights.

Going to put glass over the top of the tank to stop the fish from jumping out and also to keep water from hitting my t5s that I'm basically building into the hood/canopy

 

[CodyRVA]

Going to put glass over the top of the tank to stop the fish from jumping out and also to keep water from hitting my t5s that I'm basically building into the hood/canopy

You'll want to expose the water surface, this is highly recommended for gas exchange and somewhat for heat reduction. If you have a strong T5 fixture, you should be able to place it off the water high enough to not get wet and build salt creep.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Here's the Reader's Digest version of my lightweight canopy made of 1/4 plywood and inexpensive fir strips....not fancy, but functional. Instead of using 2 x 2’s, which are commonly used in canopies, I made “L” brackets out of inexpensive fir stripping. The primary reason is strength over five foot, but also for overall weight….these are lighter:

This “L” bracket is more stable than a five foot 2 x 2. I’ll use these on the two top braces of the canopy.

With these “L” brackets installed, and ripped fir sprips on the other side, here is the carcass of the canopy….the end pieces are simply plywood with full size fir strips attached. In retrospect, I'd rip those fir strips in half to lighten it up even more.

On the front lower frame member I attached a strip of 1/16 acrylic, jutting down a half inch. This will hit the front glass of the tank and keep the canopy from sliding back.

Primed the box with Kilz….here it is upside down without the door:

And here’s the door with the hinges set:

And here it is finished....door open and closed:

 

[Tbird165]

You'll want to expose the water surface, this is highly recommended for gas exchange and somewhat for heat reduction. If you have a strong T5 fixture, you should be able to place it off the water high enough to not get wet and build salt creep.

Was thinking a minimum of 20 inches of the top of the tank

 

[Tbird165]

Thanks for the idea redfish. It helps me reduce the weight. Was hoping to get by with just using the 1x6 I have one hand because it would've only cost me about about $10 to build it and that's just for the screws, sandpaper, stain, and what ever else I need to finish it off