My diy canopy
 

Thought I would share my diy canopy with everyone. I decided to put an aluminum canopy on my tank as opposed to the wood one that is there. I was inspired by BMW Rider's canopy and since I work in an aluminum fab shop, it was the logical thing to do. I used .125 aluminum and broke it in a similar fashion to BMW's. Since it was aluminum I decided to just polish the inside and use it as it's own reflector. This is how she sits right now after the last coat of paint. I will add the fans and lights tomorrow after the paint has dried overnight.


Scott

Nice! :)

Must be nice to have a tig at home for this kind of stuff.

wow.. that looks really nice!
Make sure you post more pics once its installed on your tank. :biggrin:

OK so where does the lineup start to place orders? That is really really nice! Good job.

Nice work......

Very nice, what tools do you need to do this?

The student succeeds the master. Good work.

What lights are you putting in it?

looks very good, how long did it take

Thanks for the good words everybody. Reefgeek, I'm a welder in an aluminum tank fabrication shop, see linkhere, so I used the hydraulic brake and tig welder there. The polishing I did all at home with stuff from princess auto. BMW Rider, I am putting a 250w halide and 2 vho actinics. D-bo, it took about 8 hours from start to finish, but the polishing probably ate up about 6 of those. If I'd have bought high polish aluminum I would have saved more time but less money.


Scott

Ok. I put the working on the canopy on hold right now cause my truck decided to fall apart all in a day for me here. I have a quick question to ask though. I'm running my VHO's off a wh7 and I would like to know how long i can make the wires from the ballast to the end caps. I'm not fond of the idea of mounting it on the canopy but I will if I have to. That about covers it, the answers to my other questions were right under my nose.:biggrin: I'll finish it up tomorrow evening because of the easter dinner and stuff tonite. Mmmm deep fried turkey.


Scott

Wow Scott you did not mention how good of a DIY you where,And only blocks from me.....I know who to call now!:p

ps stinga from skreef

Thanks Stinga, much appreciated. Well here's the moment you've been waiting for, da da da da, ha ha just kidding. The canopy is finito, on the tank and waiting for the timers to turn it on tomorrow. It reflects waaaay more light than my old canopy did. I only had a 12" reflector on the old one, this one is 36" long. I have to pick up a 12v power converter for the fans to run (I coulda swore I have one somewhere in my garage) but thats just a matter of tie the wires and plug it in. On another note, found out today just how much a 250w halide will melt the center brace on the tank. Lots. So far the front has bowed out 1/4". If it stays there I'll cut out the brace and chance it, any more and I'm going to have to do something about this. Here's the pictures.
http://www.saskreef.ca/forums/attach...tachmentid=592
http://www.saskreef.ca/forums/attach...tachmentid=593
http://www.saskreef.ca/forums/attach...tachmentid=591

Scott