72g bowfront canopy - pics of work in progress

[Delphinus]

It's been a long time coming together .... but I think it's starting to look like a canopy...

http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/temp/72ghood-inprogress1.jpg

To Do still:
- the doors (was going to start today, but ended up doing household repairs instead!)
- paint the exterior (marble finish) - to match the stand
- paint the interior (was thinking melamine ... since I have more of this stuff than I'll ever use anyways ... we'll see)

More pics maybe as I get some more progress .......... if anyone cares that is... :roll:

[StirCrazy]

Looks nice Tony, I don;t evny you trying to make that stuff for a bowfront.. looks like a PITA to me :wink:

Steve

[Canadian Man]

Looks great Tony, it seems to be comming along very well.

[Tau2301]

Looks good Tony.

[AJ_77]

That looks awesome, Tony! Do you have Mitch consulting, or what?! I had no idea you had such skill with the tools, knowing how much work went into Deb's bow-front unit.

Can't wait to see it finished.

Alan :D

[Delphinus]

Thanks guys :oops: (sheepish) :)

I agonized over the "best" approach to take on this one. It's not a straightforward box unlike my other hoods (all my hoods are DIY). For this one, I decided to take a few lessons from fence building (it seems I've built a few fences over the years too), and build a frame using 1x2's and then slap on the fence boards over top.

Surprisingly, the bowfront part is not much of a complication using this approach. For the bowfront, I took some 1/2" plywood, cut the shape with a jigsaw, and glued two pieces together to get a 1" support to mount the boards onto.

The two biggest surprises or complications have been, the amount the 1x2's (used for the sides, back, and top cross bar support) bow and warp so it's been largely a pain trying to keep the whole thing square during construction, and also since this is a "sit on the top" design, the aquarium itself is not flat (the snap-track or whatever you call it has some significant upwards warping that I've had to compensate for).

I went through a lot of math (a LOT of math) trying to figure out the angle for each "fence board" should be tapered to fit the bowfront curve perfectly. It's an interesting process (I can go through it for any math geeks out there), but it's a moot point in the end. The amount a 1x4 fence board tends to curve anyways on its own seems to match the curve of the tank close enough anyways (just as long as you don't put them in backwards). Couldn't have asked for a better coincidence!

I was hoping to work on the doors after work today, but I wonder if it might not be better to take advantage of the warmer weather and spray paint the exterior instead (since I'm not allowed to do that kind of thing indoors).

[MitchM]

Looks good, Tony! :)

(Is that Deb's old bowfront?)

Good luck with the front doors! :D
One piece of advice...it looks like you have the "slats" for the only material for the walls of the canopy. You may want to look and see if there will be any light leaking through the cracks. I built Deb's with a plywood structure first and then put the slats on after.
Feel free to email me re my trials and tribulations with the doors.

Deb, you be quiet here.....

Mitch :wink:

[Seriak]

Hey Tony,

What are you using for lighting. DIY? My Lights sit right on top of the water so the glass protecting the lights gets coated in water crap. I was thinking of raising the lighting, but then the lights would no longer be in the canopy. Oh, I have a 90g Bowfront.

[EmilyB]

Deb, you be quiet here.....

:wink:

...............not saying a word ! As a matter of fact we were just talking about your doors............... :P :lol:

The old girl is looking good Tony ! 8)

[MitchM]

As a matter of fact we were just talking about your doors............... :P :lol:


Should I be worried?.... :lol:

:shock:

Mitch

[Delphinus]

Thanks Deb. Mitch, yup, that's the one. Sad thing is I bought it in September, and it has taken me this long to get to this point. First, rearrange the basement make some space, then fix the walls, paint in behind, etc. etc. and yadda yadda yadda. I know, excuses excuses, and I am full of them... :oops:

Aesthetics are an important requirement for this tank. I've put up with crappy looking stands and canopies for long enough, I want my setups to look as nice as all you guy's setups out there. There is not a single tank I've ever seen that I didn't think was nicer than mine (probably everybody feels this way, who knows....)

The sides are indeed right now just the slats. I was going to wait and see how much "light spillage" there is through there. The inside of the canopy is not yet prepared, so I was going to see how it was once that's done. Where the tank sits, the sides are really not all that noticeable so it might not be the biggest deal (there will be fans on the sides so some light spilling out is unavoidable, but hopefully not too obnoxious). My 75g hood has the fans on the side and I don't find the light spilling out from there to be too distracting.

Seriak, this tank is a one-to-one replacement of my 50g tank, which has DIY lighting 2x175W/10000K. Very happy with these bulbs, more importantly, the ritteri anemone is very happy with these bulbs. This tank's sole purpose will be to provide a home that hopefully showcases this animal with the focus it deserves (you can see a picture of it at http://members.shaw.ca/reefs/delphinus/index.html .... that picture was taken nearly a year ago ... it doesn't photograph very easily .... it looks much nicer in person, honest!). This will be the new home for the anemone, plus the two percs pictured and their buddy "Half-Pint-O-Tang" (a very spiffy yellow tang that coincidentall also was given to me by Deb! 8) ) I don't use a cover glass. For mainly two reasons. 1) too much trouble to keep clean 2) want to keep up evaporation rather than restrict it, it's far better for the tank that way and 3) (I never said I could count :) ) I figure if I spend $10-$20 per month on electricity per bulb, I want to be sure that as much of that light that I'm buying is useable to the animals below and getting into the tank and not bouncing off somewhere and becoming useless. The one upgrade I'm making with the lighting is I am switching to perpendicular reflectors. They will sit approximately 4" off the water surface. Another future upgrade, if I ever get the cash, is, I want to switch to electronic ballasts. Unfortunately the cost of going to Icecaps is somewhat prohibitive for me right now, :( but maybe if I can save up for some. Or maybe Fulham will hurry up and release their "175W Highhorse" ballast that they've been promising for a while now...

[Seriak]

I purchased one of those all in one 2X MH 2 X flourescent. It has a glass base to protect the MH from water splashes. I took the top glass off my tank, but the light still sits right on top of the tank and it is the glass which is a part of the light fixture that is getting covered with white sediment? I will probably raise the light above the canopy on my new setup in the basement; however, your tank is looking great so far. I will have to come visit you soon as I live only 5 minutes from you. It looks like I will need that glass drilling lesson soon anyways.

[Delphinus]

I got the doors done. Now, all I need is to cut the fan holes on the sides, and start painting and caulking the insides.

http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/temp/72gcanopywithdoors.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/temp/72gcanopybackofdoor.jpg

Basically, took 1x4s again, layed them out flat on the canopy. The back side supports are .5" plywood, cut with a jigsaw to match the curve of the front of the tank, then 2 glued to each other to make a 1" curved strip. Then, screwed the boards onto the back rails, countersink the screws and (this last part is cheating, my Jr. High shop teacher would be so disgusted with me), covered with wood filler to make the surface flush. (Ordinarily I would not use wood filler, but since the outside of the hood will be painted anyways, I hope I can be forgiven this last little indiscretion ... :oops: ;) )

I am not sure when I will paint the outside. I would prefer to do this work outside, since it will be a sprayed paint, so it might just end up being primed for now, and then waiting until the next chinook for nice weather to do it outside.

(I, uh, already tried priming the insides once, all I can say is, don't start painting something at 11pm, if you're a klutz like me, and accidentally knock over the oil based can of primer paint onto your carpet, you will end up spending the next 2-3 hours desperately cleaning your carpet, with members of your household coming up with creative new nicknames for you, and so on.. ... I decided I could do less damage by working on the doors, so at least now that part is done... :oops: )

[Canadian Man]

:lol: I always love hearing your stories Tony,
I can just Imagine what Linda is saying! :wink: :lol:

[MitchM]

:D Looks good Tony!
Make sure that you put extra backing and extra long screws in the hinges where they attach to the canopy!

Mitch :wink:

[Delphinus]

Thanks for the tip, Mitch! The hinges are the kind that bolt into the side, not the front or back, so any screw that fits into the 1x4 should work (I guess up to about 3" ;) ). I was thinking, that because the doors are somewhat long in proportion to their height, and particularly that the hinges are not that far apart from each other, that it might not be a bad idea to attach a small block on the inside of the last 1x4, that the doors can rest upon when closed -- so that at least when the doors are closed, the weight of the door is basically resting on canopy, instead of applying a kind of torquey force on the hinges. The doors aren't actually attached yet, I was going to paint first. Assuming I am allowed to get anywhere near a can of paint again, that is... ;)

[BC_Grl]

Very nice, Tony. Looks like a LOT of hard work went into this. 8)

[Delphinus]

Ok, and here are some shots of the finished product. Well, nearly finished. The outside is only primered; to make it match the stand it will need the marble paint spray painted on it and I don't really have a place inside to do spray paint kind of work so it might be waiting until spring to finish that off.

The reflectors are Reef Optix, and you might notice I have angled them inwards a bit to create a slight focal point in the center of the tank. This is because I don't want to encourage my ritteri anemone (which sits in the center) to want to wander closer to one of the lights, I want him to "choose" to be in the center.

The fans are Orions, AC fans which are supposed to be quiet (as recommended by Randy Holmes Farley on RC, a few months ago). While they ARE quiet (certainly no comparison to the jet turbines over my old tank), they are not quite as silent as the Icecap DC fans over my other tank. But they were $25-30 each as opposed to $75 each, and the difference is really quite negligible. So I do very heartily recommend these fans as well. If interested in info please contact me and I will dig up the relevant details.

Umm ... let's see what else can I say at this point. No light escapes through the seams where the 1x4's meet up. Although there is some slight light escape from the doors, which I hope to solve by using a weather stripping along the inside.

http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/temp/72g/inside_hood_1.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/temp/72g/inside_hood_closeup.jpg


And I think with this, I am ready for a break from DIY for a while ... whew what a slog! (This was supposed to be finished in my two weeks of Christmas vacation ... it's now ... January 27? Ok, only a month late, could be worse. .... :) )

cheers

[StirCrazy]

And I think with this, I am ready for a break from DIY for a while ... whew what a slog!
cheers

:shock: you only had the one project going??? and you not starting another :? how can you live with nothing to make :shock: :wink:

Steve

[Delphinus]

Ummm ... maybe one tank DIY project, but a few household renos on the side too. I have tools everywhere right now, much to the annoyance of my wife.. :)

Hey I am not as talented as some! I can't figure out how you guys manage to do so much in just a day or two .... it takes me weeks just to arrange a single rock. :)

[StirCrazy]

I have tools everywhere right now, much to the annoyance of my wife.. :)

Actualy I just finnished moving my router table and compound miter saw out of the front room into the new shelf my wife bought me to put in the back room so she could have her front room back :wink:

Steve

[MitchM]

Great job Tony!

Mitch