Anyone have pics of their DIY suspended canopies?

[skylsdale]

I need to build one of these for my tank, and I am garbage when it comes to construction and building and just coming up with my own thing. Can I see some pics of projects you guys have done to help get an idea as to how to go about this?

Thanks!

 

[NaH2O]

You said suspended....do you mean a canopy that you can raise and lower, or just one that is hanging, or can it be sitting on the tank?

 

[skylsdale]

Something that is hanging from the ceiling...raising and lowering would be an added bonus.

Actually, I ended up making something this afternoon. It's definitely not going to win any awards for aesthetics, but it will do the job.

 

[NaH2O]

How do you like the suspended canopy that you put together? Are you still looking for ideas?

 

[Paul B]

I don't know if you would call this suspended because it's built into a wall but the MH lights are suspended and the long white thing in the front is a vinyl fence post with actinic lights and a fan in it. It is hung from the ceiling and when I want to work on the tank it pivots back under the MH lights and clips in the back out of the way.
Have a great day.
Paul

 

[skylsdale]

NaH20, here is a shot of the canopy I ended up putting together:

It's just a frame made with 1x2's and a bunch of screws. I have some eyes screwed into the top and some 'S' hooks to hook to the chain, and that's about it. I put the ballasts on the back of the frame, which made it back-heavy, so I balanced it out by taping a rock to the front. I need to neaten up all the wires and get them running along the frame, but I just haven't had time.

If I did it again, I would try to rig some sort of pulley system or something where I could just pull a chord and the entire thing easily went up. I have it high enough over the tank so I can stick my arm in there, but if I ever need to do anything major, I just unhook the 'S' hooks and hook them to a higher part on the chain, raising the front part of the frame. It's not hard, but a bit of a pain sometimes.

It definitely won't win any contests, but it is definitely functional! There is no heat to worry about being added to the tank, either, because it's so open.

 

[Katchupoy]

Here is what I have. But I must warn you that it is ugly.
Anyway, I believe that you can do better.

The reason I did this is because Im in an apartment. And I dont think the ceiling can hold it.
So I rested it in the tank.

The closed version in order to limit the light within the hood. Its hard to watch TV if its open.

The open version if you are feeding them or doing some maintenance work.

Up close and personal on the adjustments. You see here that I drilled some holes along the vertical part of the PVC so i can raise them or lower them If I want to. Say, Winter is the lowest, Spring and Fall is in the mid part, and Summer is in the highest. In order to control water temp.

Hope this helps.

 

[NaH2O]

skylsdale - check out this thread. I have a couple of links in there to a tank (not suspended) but uses a pulley system: Adjustable halide mounts