DIY T-5 retro hood

[duec22]

Ok I finally got some new shots.

With the lid on..still haven't painted it yet.

With a couple of the bones raised and held.

Hinges

Here is the tank with the lights in the room off. There are 5 lights over the tank and one that is over the 5gal HOB fuge, which is where all the light on the wall is comeing from.

 

[Squiddy]

Hey, now that is cool. You can swing up as many lights as you need, depending on what you are doing in the tank. How are the front and top attached to the rest of the hood? Do you have to lift them off each time?

 

[duec22]

Yeah, for now I've just have it so that I can rest it ontop. I've been leaving it off to get better air flow. I think the only time I'll actually put the lid on is when I have people over.

 

[rkl303]

Very nice I may have to steal your design when I buy a new tank.

 

[BigJPDC]

that design rocks!!

jp

 

[Squiddy]

How do you have reflectors attached? That one in the front in the 3rd picture looks like the reflector is down over the bulb as opposed to being screwed down to the wood slat that holds the endcaps. When I installed my reflectors and bulbs, it felt like the reflectors were miles away from the bulbs. Looks like you might be using spacers?

Nice design though!

 

[duec22]

The T-5's that I got are the SLS retro's. With these the reflector actually attaches to the bulb, so they are really close to the bulbs.

 

[lbear]

duec22, You mentioned earlier that three ballasts will be mounted on the stand. Could you share some pictures?

 

[alien9168]

I really like the concept of using hinges to move each of the lights out of the way!
Very original.


-alien

 

[burke031]

Very nice setup.....How close to the water are the bulbs ? Im looking into doing something similar.

Thanks
joe

 

[duec22]

I'll try to post a pic of the ballasts some time this weekend.

The bulbs sit about 2" above the water surface. Except for the last bulb in the hood sits about 1.5" higher due to the return from the fuge.

 

[shouldabenacowboy]

Nice setup!!...bookmarked it for reference when I rebuild my hood

SBC

 

[duec22]

Here's where I stuck the ballasts.

 

[lbear]

Thanks for sharing pictures. If you have sump or refugium close to them, do you have any protection for water splash?

 

[duec22]

I've got a CPR HOB refugium. If it does go out I just have to pray that the outter lip to the stand (the back is open) keeps them dry. The refugium is going to be my next project. I'm going to build a stand for it, as it really worries me with 5gal of water hanging on the back of the tank held only by two 1/4" plastic braces. I'm also planning on building a skimmer out of the intake side of the fuge.

 

[Nyles]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6997839#post6997839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Squiddy
That would be a thought. The problem is, the way I designed the hood, I need the shelf that the lighting is on for strength, so it can't be hinged.

sure it can, I have pics of mine. Too bad hosting is a mess here.