pics of my home made canopy

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wrightme43

wrightme43

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Well here it is, waiting on ballast, bulbs, and reflector to arrive. Ordered 2 M58 ballasts with 1/2" alumnium cooling fins, a german reflector, two all aluminum mogul sockets, quick disconnect cords, and two Hamilton 14000k bulbs. Lessons learned. Even if the wood at Lowes says ready to use for any project, Find a friend with a planer and have it planed. Make sure all of the boards are not warped. LOL Uhhh, wood putty fills mistakes but looks like crap anyway. Its better to just break down and buy the air powered brad nailer and not use screws where they can be seen. Seeing as this is the second thing I have ever made out of wood, the other being a dog house, its ok. It could be a whole whole lot better. The next one I build will cost less and be lighter. Oh and another thing, douglas fir stains different than white pine. I will post more photos when I get the sockets and reflector installed. Waiting impainently on them. Steve
 

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looks really nice; thinking that's probably on my list of one of my next projects too. I want to get a wrasse, but afraid it will bail. What kind of finish did you use for the inside to combat splashes and salt?
 
Three coats of polyurathane by minwax. I really worked it into the seams and corners as well. I am going to let dry, steel wool it, and give it one more coat. It should be submersible after all that. I hope. LOL Thanks you guys. Steve
 
Scooterman said:
Looks like crap, send it to me and I'll take it off your hands:D

LOL, looks nice!
Click to expand...

Well, that was a might rude!!! :D :D :D I got a better idea, you can send it to me. Looks great Steve, make sure you get us some pics when you get it on the tank. Can't wait to see your tank with the halides!!! :)
 
Thanks again, Becky I used chair rail, and pre embossed trim from Lowes. Up close you can see where the die they used to cut it, tore the wood and it takes more stain than the other wood. I tried to sand it out, but it was taking the design out with it, so I stoped. The next one will be much better. Now the only problem is the stand is flat finished and the top is shiny. I will fix that though, after this I will get a asm g-3 skimmer, a seaswirl, and then build me a cool stand with more room and taller. Steve
 
I thought that was some fancy router work, I know you'll be up-grading to a larger tank later anyways by then you'll have all new ideas and designs on your hood. Hey where did you order your all aluminum mogul sockets, quick disconnect cords?
 
Steve it looks right fine. You are right about the different woods taking stain differently. There are a couple things you can try to minimize the dfference though. You can apply a sanding sealer before staining which really helps. Also if you use a "polyshades" type stain (poly with stain in it) the wood doesn't soak it up as much, so it evens out a little better on the different woods(still some difference but better). Then you can put some clear poly over it later to make it even tougher. I try not to use those types of combo stains myself, but for that situation they would help out a little.

Oh and here is a tip for all you LOwes/Home Depot wood buyers :shock: ......Look up wood suppliers in your local area...(Crosscut Hardwoods in Seattle is great around here, for you PNWer's. Buy "S2S" wood (surfaced on two sides and rough edges) find a friend with a jointer and a planer (unless you have one) to finish it out. You will pay waaaaayyyy less for wood. For example Red Oak at CCHW costs only a couple dollars a square foot... at Lowes/Home Depot where you just buy a certain sized board for XXX amount you end up paying around 6.00 a sq foot. HTH
 
Thanks Stan, and Dolphinlvr. Scooty I got the retro kit from cool touch lighting on ebay. 255 delivered for the ballast, sockets, cords, and 30 for the reflector. I have seen their stuff in person and in operation. It is very high quality, and well made. Great customer service so far. They even answered a question on sunday. Danny bought 4 x 250 MH and 4 x 110 watt vho icecaps from them. Really happy with the construction. I appreciate the heads up Stan. It will help me alot in the future. This was so much fun, I want to do it again. I had no idea I would enjoy working on wood like this. I have helped build super streets and one late model, and several mini corvette gokarts. (Bowling Green KY is the home of the Corvette) So I always though metal was the way to go. Now I know this can be lots of fun too. Anybody that is thinking about it, try it. Steve
 
am i getting this right steve. just when you finishd that beutiful canopy with those awsome halides youll have to send it to me because your going with a bigger tank :D great job
 
Sryder, Thats right today only for the low low cost of US$1995 I am selling this canopy. But wait there is more, we will throw in for free if you purchase it today, one super rare frag of cyanno bacteria. Now folks this is not the normal cyanno you can get at the store, oh no, its different, its super color cyanno. How can we make these deals you ask? Volume. Volume is the key. Thats why the commercial is so loud. Hurry quanitys are limited and the supply is going fast. LOL Sorry. I have had a pot of coffee to drink this evening. Finished the last coat on the inside. So now I just have to wait. No more coffee for me. LOL Steve
 
Lol Steve...woodworking can be addicting just like reefing.....I have been working with wood since I was a kid thanks to my dad and several woodworking nieghbors. Let me know when you start noticing the cool noise hardwood makes when you slide a couple boards together, or enjoy the awesome sound of a $200.00 lazor cut carbide blade slicing through a piece of cocobolo, then I'll know your hooked.... :doubt: ahhh but if you start to actually like sanding, well then you need help my friend... :lol:
 
Stan, it sounds like you are ate up with it. I hope one day to have a shop big enough for all the tools I need. This is fun. I think the 40 gallon I donated and maintain will be the next to get a canopy. LOL Steve
 
wrightme, can i get a discount if i buy different strains of that awsome blue/green cyano? any chance of a little hair or razor to go with it? you dont happen to have a couple of extra large mantis shrimp by chance, my fish realy look lonely...lol you know they make decaf right? lol
 
Decaf? Santa Clause wont come to house that serves decaf. Only Mr. Hanky the Christmas poo will visit. Funny you should ask about Mantis shrimp. My new sales campaign was going to be a mantis in every shipment of live rock, and 5 free zoo eating nudies. Or buy 300$ worth of sps corals and get a free parrot fish. LOL Sorry, I really shouldnt drink as much coffee as I do.
Ok on the updates front. I got my bulbs in today. Just waiting on the ballasts and sockets. I screwed up. I thought I got the reflector but I didnt. Now they want 20$ to ship it and 35 for it. I guess I will be buying the spiderlight reflectors. Or I was thinking of spreading High Temp engine silicone on the backs of two of the thicker mirror tiles and pressing strips cut off a couple of old kevlar heat sleeves to the back. That is in case it breaks, it cant fall into the tank. Just a thought. I will probley go with the spider reflec. Hell its only money. What else am I going to do with it? Beats buying drugs anyway. LOL Steve
 
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