Do It Yourself DIY Hood

Part 1

This is going to be a few posts as I am in the process now of building it.

Here it goes. To this point I have measured the length of my base that hides the plastic trim of the tank on the bottom so that I will match on these parts.

I cut the sides to match my sides of the base border as well.

Then I cut 1x2 to make a ledge to hold my top on (I will have a recessed top within the hood with my door and light mounts)

My border on my tank is 2" so I measure 2" up from the bottom, drew a line and that is where the vertical 1x2 needs to end on the bottom, measured the length to the ledge I built and cut these legs that will hold the hood on to the tank.

I have also used the 1x2 to make my rear support which will keep my top 1x6s and 1x8 from warping over time (hopefully)

Here is a picture of the sides and the front looking at the inside. The wide wood is 1x10 so I have room to mount my lights in there too.

 

Well I put lights in it last night.... I cannot find my cameras memory card. I will add pictures later tonight (maybe)

I assembled the wrapper, cut a 1x8 and 2 1x6s to the length to cover the top. I painted the inside Gloss White with a heavy coat. I then placed 4 1x2 strips under the 1x8 and 1 1x6 to mount my lights.

I took the ballast and the bulb clips out of 3 - 48" 2 bulb T8/T12 strips (utility lights) and mounted the ballasts to the back of the bottom of the hood and staggered the bulbs like I said I was going to do

Something like this
|-----------------------------------| <-3200
................|-----------------------------------| <-5000
|-----------------------------------| <-6500
................|-----------------------------------| <-6500
|-----------------------------------|<-5000
................|-----------------------------------| <-3200

The outside bulbs (far back and far front) are 3200 Kitchen and Bath T8's

The 2 inside are 5000 Sunlight T8s and the other inside 2 are 6500 Daylight T8s.

The 2 3200 bulbs are on 1 plug (meant to be my sunrise/sunset) and the other 4 are on another plug. I still need to get 2 timers to set the lights.

I placed it on my tank and am running on it now. My god is it bright. It lights up my living room. You almost need sunglasses to look in the tank!!!

 

It has a nice yellow/reddish tint. It reminded me of the "Golden Hour" of sunset when the sun gets reddish.

I went with the blue range for sunlight. Actually all 6 lights run in the daytime. The mix of colors also create a rich bright tank when lit up.

 

In a few hours.... I am at work now but am taking off early to vote... after that I am going to work on my hood some more and I just found my memory card, it was in the bag with my work laptop.

 

Here is some pictures to where I am at..... the center ballast over-heated this morning and I deemed it no good so I will need to replace it.... til then I still have 4 lights!

This is the advantage to this setup....

 

The lights produce little to none, I can remove the lights while lit....... the 2 ballasts on the end are warn to the touch but not hot at all..... that middle ballast will burn your hand after about 10 minutes running and the lights start to flicker.

Also the wires on that ballast get really hot. When I took the hood off when I got home (I did disconnect that middle ballast before going to work). It was room temp under the hood, but my wife left the thermostat at 85 this morning. None the less the heat (if it does put enough out) will just help heat my tank!

 

Yeah, these T8s are all standard output.... because of the room I have, I figured quantity to make up for power.

 

Of course it is not finished. I still have to sand my wood filler, stain and polyurethane, but I am using the hood now as my old light I shredded apart for wire and to see if it had a ballast I could use but here it is:

And this is only 4 lights (2 5000 bulbs and 2 6500 bulbs) I left the 3200 off for now until I get my new ballast which will be a few days until payday.

 

You are telling me.....

Thank you

 

Thank you. Actually now it has a bevel around the front and sides on the top and bottom edges. I used wood filler to cover the screws and hopefully tomorrow or in a day or 2 I will stain.... then poly then poly again then I will be done (excluding replacing that 1 ballast) I should get that this weekend.

 

Ok here is the stained product.

Again, wet stain, no polyurethane and no hardware (handle/hinge for the door)