szwab
Premium Member
I have finally finished my lighting canopy for my tank. It has take a while to get to where I am satisfied (for the most part). This is actually the 2nd one I have built. After building the first one it had quite a few shortcomings which lead me to trashing it and building a second. I thought I'd post some pics
first pic is of the canopy from the side:
The top part of the canopy houses the light mover and track. The suspended pendant houses a 400 watt MH in a lumenarch III encased by a wooden box. It is hanging from a light mover that moves it back and forth throughout the day. My plan is to eventually program the controller to move it across the length of the tank once during photo period.
The second pic is of the front of the canopy.
The third is of the canopy opened up, to make it easier to access the tank.
I know myself and had to make it easy to access the tank for feeding and maintenance. Otherwise eventually it would not get done
The top part of the front of the canopy is removable. The pendant is hung by 4 x 1/16 steel braided cable which is threaded through homemade adjusters that allow me to raise and lower the halide light as needed. Either to adjust the overall intensity of the halide or to raise it up out of the way for maintenance. I also currently have 2x T5's on the tank 1 in front and one in back. This will soon become 3x t5s 1 in front and 2 in back. The T5 is on a rig that allows me to lift it up for feedings and access. It also lifts up and locks in a vertical position for full access to the top of the tank. The T5's were initially intended to just provide fill light for when the halide is on either end of the tank. Once they were installed I was pretty impressed with their intensity thus a 3rd will be added (hopefully tomorrow).
Any and all critisisms are welcome as I am always looking to improve on the system.
first pic is of the canopy from the side:
The top part of the canopy houses the light mover and track. The suspended pendant houses a 400 watt MH in a lumenarch III encased by a wooden box. It is hanging from a light mover that moves it back and forth throughout the day. My plan is to eventually program the controller to move it across the length of the tank once during photo period.
The second pic is of the front of the canopy.
The third is of the canopy opened up, to make it easier to access the tank.
I know myself and had to make it easy to access the tank for feeding and maintenance. Otherwise eventually it would not get done
The top part of the front of the canopy is removable. The pendant is hung by 4 x 1/16 steel braided cable which is threaded through homemade adjusters that allow me to raise and lower the halide light as needed. Either to adjust the overall intensity of the halide or to raise it up out of the way for maintenance. I also currently have 2x T5's on the tank 1 in front and one in back. This will soon become 3x t5s 1 in front and 2 in back. The T5 is on a rig that allows me to lift it up for feedings and access. It also lifts up and locks in a vertical position for full access to the top of the tank. The T5's were initially intended to just provide fill light for when the halide is on either end of the tank. Once they were installed I was pretty impressed with their intensity thus a 3rd will be added (hopefully tomorrow).
Any and all critisisms are welcome as I am always looking to improve on the system.
It looks great and fully functional...what more could you ask for. I like the dovetails on the MH box. I can't quite make out if they are traditional dovetails or one of the Leigh isolocs (?). Either way looks great. What kind of finish did you use?
