DIY 350watt custom corner hood

[scighera]

Here is a photo journal of my corner hood.
Here is the dual 175 w MH.

I started by laying out and cutting all the pecies for the basic structure.

I then glued and screwed the pecies together and painted the wood with a marine primer and black paint and sealed it in a non-toxic water sealent.

I then layed out the reflectors and drilled the holes and bolted in the first fixture.

I made a gap between the hood and the reflector to promote better cooling

I installed two 100 cubic feet per min silent run cooling fans.
and the last fixture

after I installed a "Thermo Switch" for the fans and put all the wires in jackets and brackets.

I also built a DIY moon light and instaled it in the hood.

I built a lip with trim. (Older tank shot)

 

[scighera]

Here is all the parts I used to build the Attinics.

Here is the ballast I made in a water tight junction box.

Here I wired everything up and added the digital timer.

and here is the equipment I will mount in my stand for the lights, everything is watertight and will not be affected by humidity.

And here is my hood with the attinics on.

and here is the hood, (older tank shot)

 

[grubsnaek]

NOW thats a DIY project rite there, jeezzzz, i myself like to do alot of DIY. but i cant come close to something like that.
that looks great

 

[nu2salt]

you can build a canopy for me anytime...

would that happen to be a 44 coner tank?
if so can you post some pics of your filtration i have one but i don't know how i gonna work the filtration out. don't want to use the hob filter thats made for the plastic canopy it came with.

 

[isistius]

nicely done!!!!

 

[kimkromann]

 

[scighera]

Originally Posted by nu2salt
you can build a canopy for me anytime...

would that happen to be a 44 coner tank?
if so can you post some pics of your filtration i have one but i don't know how i gonna work the filtration out. don't want to use the hob filter thats made for the plastic canopy it came with.
Thank-you

Yup a 44 corner.
I used an aquaclear 110 (500) HOB filter before I installed my sump and fuge now I don't run any filter.

 

[b bauer]

looks very nice how did you ground the ballast with only a 2 wire and seal the cables coming into the boxes without connectors?I have a 36g corner and that hood looks a lot better then the one I bought

 

[scighera]

I ran the ground as an eternal dedecated line from the GFCI, you can see the ground wire in the atinic pictures before it was hooked up (The Green wire) The ballast I made in the grey box is for the atinics only and the gaps around the wires leading inside are sealed with silicon. The 350watt MH ballast is grounded from the factory it's a PFO dual 175 MH ballest. The MH bulb wires are in jackets and run to the steel boxes attached to the mogals, the connections are soldered and caped inside there

 

[scighera]

I decided to add 55 more watts of attinic lighting to the hood, so I cut down the MH reflectors and instaled a 2x4 riped to 3inches down the center of the hood and customized a 24 inch retro-fit power compact kit to fit into a 21inch space.
and here it is.