hoods

[portelli]

I have a 36in tank that I want to build a hood for. I want to use 3' NO bulbs on it. The endcaps add an extra inch total. Has anyone made a hood with an interior space of 36"? And had it look nice still? I have some idea's but wanted some opinions.

[Doug]

Hi Portelli,

Is your tank an AGA? Maybe you could use an AGA canopy.

Here is a link to All Glass that gives the sizes of some of the canopies that they offer. Maybe it will give you some ideas.
http://www.all-glass.com/products/stands/solidpine.html

HTH

Doug

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Doug's Reef and Fish Page (http://38.222.244.200/dougw)

[portelli]

No I doubt they have 37" hoods for a 36" tank. They usually use 24" light on those. I have Ideas, I just wanted to know other peoples.

[kvk]

You could make the interior 36" by having the sides of the hood overhang the sides of the tank. For instance, make the hood out of 1" (actual size 3/4") pine. Make the top 37 1/2" and attatch the sides and front flush with the inside of the top (put screws through the top into the sides.) Then attatch strips of wood (maybe 1/2" or 3/4") to the inside of the sides and front. This will rest on the frame of the tank and support the hood. If you want to get fancy you can use a table saw or router to cut a groove just above the supports to slide in a piece of glass. You can have the sides and front overhang and cover the frame of the tank. You may want to make the top a little longer (say 38") to leave yourself some room for wiring, etc. I recently made a hood like this for a 20g tall tank and it came out great. Leave yourself some room in the back for feeding and topoff though, you probably won't want to remove the hood every time you want to feed. To do this I cut the top about 3" shorter than the sides from front to back and put a board on the back that was thinner (top to bottom) than the front to keep light from escaping.

good luck,
Ken

[portelli]

Sorry I missed typed I need a 37" interior space. Actually a 36.5" space. 36" would be easy. I have made a hood like Ken has discribed. But I want a 37" interior space, while keeping a border flush around the tank. So I need to have the hood step out a little. It is too hard to discribe.

[kvk]

Well, you could make the top wider (say 37 1/2") with the sides extending down to the tank frame and then maybe attatch a 1X4 to the bottom of the sides on the inside to cover the gap (3/4") on both sides. Then attach the supports to to the 1X4. Use a router to make a nice edge on the sides and use the same bit for the bottom of the 1X4. You would want to attatch the sides to the outside of the top, having the top of them flush with the top of the hood. This would give you an inside width of 37 1/2" at the top and 36" at the tank rim. The outside width would be 39" at the top and 37 1/2" at the rim of the tank. You might want to put the same step in the front of the hood to make it uniform. Hope this helps.

ken