Supporting a canopy on tank?

[johnd651]

i am ditching the glass when i switch to SW. i want to keep eggcrate to keep stuff from falling into/jumping into the lights.

it was just something that has been on my mind, since i originally thought about building it on the FW with glass and i was puzzled as to how to mount it. i had many ideas, but was wondering how everyone got around this.

it seems that i am thinking to much into it, and will just build it, and then cut a hole into the eggcrate so i can fit the hose through and do water changes. i can feed through the eggcrate.

what type of paint to seal the wood up? latex? varnish?

btw...Kat your canopy would actually match my stand perfectly. just some Olde maple satin

 

[mynock11]

looks great Kat you do that by urself?

 

[jfl14609]

you dont need to cut a hole just make the egg crate into three pieces the center section will pop right out as far as sealing the best ones use marine grade epoxy

 

[jfl14609]

one big suggestion try to make it light I had a heady one and it was a real pain if something went wrong or I just wanted to do something and needed someone else to help me remove it

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

Spar varnish is what wooden boat builders use and natural wooden boats; a good primer and paint I think would be just fine, if you want to go that route, but as mentioned I'm sure there are commercial grade epoxy paints that would hold up very well.

and yes, to adding a little apron for the overlap in place of doing a little saw work cutting a rabbit; if you have access to a table saw, I wouldn't bother setting up a router for the job, as its just two quick cuts.

 

[belgian_waffleman]

This is a picture of the inside of my canopy before the T5's got mounted.

The metal tabs are resting on the rim of the tank and are holding up the canopy.

waffleman

 

[superkat]

looks great Kat you do that by urself?

yup.

i also like the brackets on this last pic...didn't think of that...but i tend to overbuild anyway. +1 on sectioning the eggcrate, if you still feel you need it.

 

[johnd651]

i like the brackets, it seems easiest of all the suggestions , of course i wouldn't think of that, only something 1million times more complicated

and as for sectioning egg crate...just for general knowledge...what do you mean, like cutting it in a circle in the middle? or just into strips next to each other?

 

[jfl14609]

just use three strips