DIY Hood

[wanareef]

Well finished the reflectors and now working on the hood. I wanted something like a pendant but this tank will need two 250w lamps and since I have about a doz URI actinic lamps thought that I would use them till they are all gone, then if needed go with T-5's later on.

 

Something strong but lightweight and I don't have enough tools to do sheetmetal work right now, so a "wood" hood will have to do.

 

I had this design in my mind while I was making the reflectors, torsion-type ribs light weight and strong. I used some scrap paneling that was 1/8" thick and cut out of a 2x4" some 1/4" pieces of material to go between the paneling - sandwhich.

 

Now to just connect all the ribs together and cover it.

[reef165]

Do you have any updated pic's of the finnished hood?

[lancecobb1]

Very nice! Would like to see the finished product as well.

[wanareef]

Here is the hood.

 

I just used the ends that were laminated and ran 8 ribs (1 1/2" x 1/2" cut down from a 2x4) across tying the ends together. Then I used 1/8" ply to "skin" the frame and added aluminum pieces where I attached the DIY LumenArcs.

 

In each end there is a 120mm PC fan pushing air in and used a 12v wall wart to power them.

 

During the heat wave we had a couple weeks ago the tank's high's temp was 82deg. If I were to do this again, I would add anothe inch of two to the bottom to make longer.

 

I have tow DIY lumenarcs and 4x VHO's stuffed in the hood. If you went T-5's and wanted acrinics with your 14k MH, you could probably stuff 3 each on each side.

[reef165]

That turned out really nice! Wish that I had seen the pick before doing mine!