My custom canopy build

[Nohva]

So this weekend I finally started work on building a canopy for my 75g tank. I am by no means a carpenter but with a little research and some help from a friend it is coming along nicely. My tank is a standard 75g (48x18x20) and when my fiance and I bought it, it came with a nice black stand. I have always wanted a canopy on my tank for a couple reasons. The first reason is I want to take the glass covers off the top and have the tank open to the lights. My fiance doesn't like this idea but has agreed that with eggcrate and the canopy I can get away with it. Second is that I want to hide my lights. This point goes right into the last one which is that by hiding your lights/equipment it naturally draws your eyes to the tank. My canopy is only partially finished at the moment but when I sat it on top of the tank I realized how much attention I had always payed to the lights and everything above my tank!

Anyways here is my canopy build.

 

[Nohva]

My canopy design consists of two sections. The front section will flip up and rest ontop of the back section when you need to get into the tank.

I started by framing in the two sections with some 1x3 wood strips. I did this in my apartment and it was horrible. Power saws are amazing and luckily I have friends that let me borrow one and finish the build at their place.

 

[Nohva]

I used 1x12 to box in the canopy and I didn't know that it's not truely 12! A 1x12 is actually a 3/4x11 1/4. So I had to make a few minor adjustments. We drilled two 3 1/2in holes on either side of the back section for fans to be placed. I'm not sure of the direction I want them to blow just yet, so if anyone has a suggestion please let me know.

 

[Nohva]

After everything was framed in we added some trim to match the stand. The "trim" is actually furring strips and I think its the same as the stand. I stared at trim for a long time not seeing the right piece just to walk over to the lumber section and see it there.

Here is a picture with the trim on and the front section sitting on my tank.

 

[shellynjason]

Looks good! Thanks for sharing all the pictures so we can see how it comes together

 

[larangcon]

That looks good, can't wait to see the completed picture. definitely following along.

 

[Nohva]

I attached a picture of my dog photobombing my fiance in that last post and i have no idea how to edit any posts...

But we are now painting the canopy and I should have more pictures when it's all nice and neat.

And if anyone could help me with editing posts I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Thomas

 

[SmyrnaReefer]

Looks good! I would think about not using egg crate on top as it limits light through put. Consider clear mesh like the sale at brs. Keep the updates coming...


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[Dowtish]

Dude! your tank is looking awesome! I was just thinking that I hadnt seen you guys at a meeting in a while. The canopy looks great. Nice job.

+1 on the screen top. You can get the clear screen mesh from BRS and all the other stuff from them too. But you can also get the spline and screen door framing from lowes.

[video=youtube;F0CzorCknWQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0CzorCknWQ[/video]