Terry,
Thanks for the pics. What does the dowel do?
The dowel is the handle(s) to allow easy sliding of the canopy front support bar(s) in and out.
Now that you've had the light rack and canopy for a year or so, if you were to do it over, would you change anything? What works really well, and what do you find challenging or a pain? Do you find that you have sufficient access to the inside of the tank for normal maintenance and things (righting an upside down snail, adding a coral, etc.)?
The light rack is one of the best things we've done with the entire setup. It gets used daily for routine maintenance, feeding, adjustments of the livestock, aquascaping, etc. The canopy design was crucial for maintenance of a display tank of this size. We're very happy with it. Big side access doors are essential. The piano hinge door for the front of the canopy is also something that gets used daily. In terms of what has gone well, there are a few:
- the MH reflectors can be rotated easily as the needs of the livestock change
- it makes it possible to gain access to the back of the display, overflow box, etc., without removing the canopy!
- the structure of the light rack makes it easy to add and upgrade additional lighting, e.g., we just recently added some new LED strips, which installed in a snap onto the rack
- the entire rack comes out of the canopy easily when the canopy needs to come off of the tank (which thankfully is infrequent!)
- being able to easily slide the entire light rig out makes changing and cleaning bulbs and reflectors simple
The things that need improvement:
- support for the wiring harness needs to be improved. It droops down too low right now and gets in the way a bit. We need to figure out how to support it and still have the slack to allow the rack to move in and out easily
- we are fairly limited in the height of the reflectors we can have in the canopy/light rack. The Lumenmax elites we are using are low profile, but if we wanted taller reflectors, we would have them down too close to the water level and thus limit the light spread, etc. This is more of a problem with the canopy height and the light rack than one or the other
- the hinges used for the panel doors on the front and sides of the canopy are not rust resistant and thus are not holding up well. Similarly, the paint used on the inside of the canopy was not marine-grade epoxy and it is wearing way too fast. This will need to be repainted using epoxy.
For my design, I thinking about using a gas strut on the front face (one designed for saltwater use, i.e., boating stuff) to hold it in the upright position. I'm curious to know whether you looked at them, and if so, why you decided against using them.
Yes, we did look at those. It was overkill in my view and one more thing that added cost, weight, and potential problems down the road. The swing front canopy is super easy to use, and with the slide out support bars, it's foolproof and easy.
I'm also considering putting my hinge on the back of the top so the entire top and front hinge upward. The lights would then be fixed to the top. With the top open, it seems like I'd have maximum access to the tank. Did you consider this type of design and reject it?
Hmmm, yes, we had a similar design on our 125g reef tank. The piano hinge was in the middle of the top of the canopy, so the front half of the canopy swung up. The front actinic bulb was mounted to this portion of the inside. We did consider something similar with this, but the sheer size of the canopy with a display tank this deep would create some challenges.
1) the weight of it would make flipping it up difficult for one person (the wife would probably not be able to do it)
2) the hinge would have to be industrial strength. Don't underestimate the amount of use this canopy hinge will get! You will use it daily.
3) you would be shaking the light rig every time you lift the canopy, this means extra wear and tear on your bulbs, fixtures etc. By having the canopy lid separate from the lights, you avoid this
The slide-out rack makes it easy to get inside the canopy for just about any maintenance task. There are the rare occasions when we've got something that is too big to get in or out through the side doors of the canopy (a huge coral colony or piece of liverock, etc.). For these chores, I recruit a friend or neighbor to help me lift the canopy off the display. The quick-disconnect wiring harness for the lights makes this a pretty straightforward chore.
