a little progress

Absolutly, Would you come to my house and Aquascape my new build for me? You are talented as a Rockman and a darn good carpenter Too. Looking very good Josh you have a winner there.
Bill
 
Did you figure the lights out?

Yeah I got the top plate turned 90 degrees so I see how it works now. Still not sure exactly how I'm going to incorporate them into the canopy though. I'd welcome any suggestions. Having room to hang them is going to be a really tall canopy. I was originally planning on it being around 2' tall but I don't think I'll have room to hang them at that height so I may have to make it taller.

Josh looking good. Can I ask who mad your sump.

Thanks. I made the sump myself based on one of Melev's designs. I believe it was called the Model G modified.
 
Yeah I got the top plate turned 90 degrees so I see how it works now. Still not sure exactly how I'm going to incorporate them into the canopy though. I'd welcome any suggestions. Having room to hang them is going to be a really tall canopy. I was originally planning on it being around 2' tall but I don't think I'll have room to hang them at that height so I may have to make it taller.

Cool. Thats what I was telling ya, the canopy has to be tall in order to have them in it. Thats why I cut out the canopy with the octagon shape and just hung mine thru the canopy. Otherwise your looking at a 3' canopy at least.
 
You got skillz.

Thanks. It was my first attempt at working with acrylic and it honestly wasn't as bad as I expected.

Cool. Thats what I was telling ya, the canopy has to be tall in order to have them in it. Thats why I cut out the canopy with the octagon shape and just hung mine thru the canopy. Otherwise your looking at a 3' canopy at least.

Yeah I can't seem to make up my mind how I want to do it. If it wasn't for trying to maintain the ability to move them up and down as needed, it would be a lot simpler.
 
There are several guys in the club that are much better at acrylic work than I am. I just read as much as I could online about it and decided to give it a try. You can probably tell by the start date of this build thread that I am not the fastest worker lol. If I ever get my build finished, I'd be happy to help out though.
 
josh,
the tank looks great. would you do the acrylic again? cost vs cost of a used tank? is the acrylic crazy expensive?
 
Yeah, I would definitely do it again especially if I had size constraints. Since this was under a stand, building it to my own dimensions was the best way the get the most sump volume possible and to have it laid out the way I wanted it.
 
Thought I'd update the thread a little. I've been working on a design for the canopy and I've finally decided to build an aluminum rack for the lights instead of hanging them individually. I think this will allow me to build the canopy a little shorter since I won't need the hanging hardware above the pendants. Here is what I have so far. The 3 lumenbright pendants will fit inside the 3 big squares. I am going to put a lip on the bottom side that they will sit on. I will make something to mount the actinic VHO's on as well.

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That's going to work nice, Having those pendants and getting In the tank can be quite a task If they are not hung right. I got rid of mine just for that reason (No easy access) I hope you have a way to raise and lower It or you will see what I mean. The metal work looks great so far and IMO Is the best way to do those lights.
Bill
 
Finally got started on the canopy. The first pic is right after i started doing some trim work and the second is pretty much the finished product of the front side of the canopy other than staining and doors. Top to bottom its just over 30" tall. I'm planning on making this front section removeable from the rest of the canopy as well. I originally intended for it to hinge up but I ran out of vertical space.

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This is looking like a very nice build. You are opening yourself up to a lot of requests for help from all of us. ;)
 
Thanks Michael. I think seeing how long the build is taking me to complete may discourage most from wanting any help from me lol :)

Andy, I bought the aluminum from Lowes and built it. Its mostly 1" square aluminum tubing and some various width flat aluminum as well all held together with aluminum rivets.
 
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