Need help! Building canopy for rimless

[Fatmike92]

I am building a canopy for my rimless tank. I just want to make it look a little more finished.

It's mainly because I am trying to cut down on the blue glow. Which I have no problem with but the fiancé does.

I've never built anything like this and would love help building it!

I'll put up a picture to show you what I'm thinking. If anyone wants to share their DIY canopy please do!

Thanks!

 

[gfox]

Just curious how bad is the glow?Is it bad just with the blues or all lights?How high do you have your lights mounted from the water surface.

 

[bct15]

You can use something like crown moulding around the tank to keep it open top...that is what I have, a huge rim around the rimless basically. It eliminated light spill but keeps the cooling benefits of open top.


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[Fatmike92]

Just curious how bad is the glow?Is it bad just with the blues or all lights?How high do you have your lights mounted from the water surface.

Here is the tank as is now

You can use something like crown moulding around the tank to keep it open top...that is what I have, a huge rim around the rimless basically. It eliminated light spill but keeps the cooling benefits of open top.

And that's exactly what I'm trying to do!

I need to cover brackets and all.

 

[cdness]

Well with the height you have right now it is going to be difficult to eliminate ALL of the blue glow. However go ahead and check out my build thread to see how I built my canopy. You will probably want to consider weight when building it so it doesn't get too heavy. Either that or figure out a way to mount it to the wall so it never really sits on the tank. Personally I would build a frame out of 1x4s and use some paneling or thin plywood and create a 3 sided box. Then add shelf brackets to the wall to hold it up. This way you can build it large enough to fit around the fixture while keeping it off the top of the tank.

I don't know if Rimless tanks are meant to support the weight of a canopy directly on the glass panes...

Doesn't a canopy kinda defeat the purpose of buying a rimless tank?

 

[Fatmike92]

Well it's not going to sit on the glass so it will still have the rimless look.

And I can lower the light if that will help with no problem at all.

But ok thanks I'll check out your build! Thanks for the info!

 

[-Logzor]

I wouldn't have the light much higher than 8-10" from the top of the tank. I would move it down and see if she tolerates the glow then, it should reduce it by a fair amount.

If that doesn't work you can potentially just use 4 boards to make a box, basically building it around the fixture itself. You could attached it on the side with some brackets, if that makes sense. This would be the most simple way to construct it without going overboard to getting into too complex of a project.

This way the whole fixture would still be hanging, but the boards will come down 6" below the light, reducing spillage, so while the light will be 10" above the tank the wood will be 4" above the rim.

Sorry if I didn't explain that well enough. Put simply it would be the equivalent of taking a cardboard box that's the shape of your light, removing the top and bottom of the box flaps, leaving you with a rectangular piece, 4 sides, and using that like a lamp shade around the light fixture. But not with a cardboard box, done nicely with wood and a slick paint job. If done right, your existing hanging kit and bars won't get in the way at all.

 

[Fatmike92]

im definitely sure how I am going to do the frame but I have no idea what trim I want to do or anything like that

I want the trim to match the trim that is in the room so I will probably do that

but the stand is black so do you think it would be weird to paint the canopy to match the room?

the room is a gray with a white trim. so if I did the same gray with white trim on the canopy do you think that would look weird over a black stand?

 

[bct15]

My opinion on it is you want it to match the room but not exactly to where it appears camouflaged. Have it stand out but blend in at the same time.

For example, my living room is two shades of brown with slightly off white base boards and chair rail...my stand and rim cover are a similar off white as my base boards do it looks like it belongs but you notice it. That and my tank is literally right in front of you when you walk in the door. I also have a small 2 inch piece of trim around the bottom of my tank to hide the sides by the sand that can't get cleaned.


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[Fatmike92]

My opinion on it is you want it to match the room but not exactly to where it appears camouflaged. Have it stand out but blend in at the same time.

For example, my living room is two shades of brown with slightly off white base boards and chair rail...my stand and rim cover are a similar off white as my base boards do it looks like it belongs but you notice it. That and my tank is literally right in front of you when you walk in the door. I also have a small 2 inch piece of trim around the bottom of my tank to hide the sides by the sand that can't get cleaned.


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I agree! thanks for the support of my idea! lol

this is what I want to do, this is the room obviously you see the blue glow lol. but this is what I would like the canopy to look like

 

[Fatmike92]

alright I started the frame of the canopy! so far not so good lol ive never done this so I know I am going to mess up a few times even though I would like to not mess up lol.

this is what I have so far....

I bought 1" x 2"s for the frame and some 1/4" 2 feet by 4 feet sheets to put on the outside of the from. now I realized that the screws I bought were to big because the edge cracked.

now to attach these

 

[Fatmike92]

alright this was a trial run. I think I know what I am doing now. I also know that I need to use thinner screws. ha im flying blind here im going to watch some videos

 

[cdness]

Pre-drill the screw holes or you will always crack 1x2s... I wrecked many of them myself by not drilling. Good wood glue will help make it more rigid too.

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[mfinn]

Pre-drill the screw holes or you will always crack 1x2s... I wrecked many of them myself by not drilling. Good wood glue will help make it more rigid too.

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+1
It may be a pain to pre-drill, but it really works.

 

[Fatmike92]

Pre-drill the screw holes or you will always crack 1x2s... I wrecked many of them myself by not drilling. Good wood glue will help make it more rigid too.

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+1
It may be a pain to pre-drill, but it really works.

Ha I did pre drill............... The screws I had were to big and my predrilled hole was to small. so it went CRACK!