Hey Netmax.........

I have marine tanks with full hoods made of acrylic with lots of HO
VHO and PC lights in the varioius hoods and have never had any warping
problems due rto heat. Of course on all the marine tanks I also run
cooling fans as well.

On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 19:35:51 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:
"Roy" wrote in message
. ..
Started to work on that hood, with the built in fuge in the top of
it......gonna try it out on a 29 gal tank. I was gona try it on the
converted 48 gal reptile tank, but I decided to keep it for a river
tank, since it already has lots of perfectly placed holes in the glass
that I can use for plumbing water to various levels of the side
terrain.

The hood for the 29 has a water depth of 3" max, and it can be caried
by use of a standpipe.

If your standpipe holds it at 3", then that's about 5-1/2g, making your
tank about 34g with 16% fuge. Impressive numbers. Pictures?

Standpipe is able to be swapped for shorter lengths so I can govern
how much water will be in the canopy fuge. But the 3" is abut maximum
as that leaves approx 1/4" oof space between top of water and the
bottom of the acrylic top pieces around the permimeter of the tank
which forms the basic top.


I even managed to mount a few power compacts
under the fuge itself, and still keep hoods overall height to about 6"

SO the cover is holding up about 48 lbs of water, and has lights
installed underneath. Nice.

Lights are power compacts with remote mounted ballasts,

POwer to supply water is a Hydor pump, and water flows from one end of
the hood fuge and exits rthew oppoisite side. I have to put a hob
resivoir on the tank so if power goes out, the water in the fuge will
have a place to overflow / drain to, or when you may need to take the
hood off.

Lost me. By my thinking, have your standpipe regulate the level. Your
Hydor should feed up, over and down, so with a power failure, it doesn't
siphon the water into the tank backwards (and your fuge stays full). To
drain, pop the standpipe out.

Ahhhhhhhh, I see what your saying, I am pushing my water up into the
hood fuge through the side of the hoods fuge water container right at
the bottom edge. I could place it higher up the side, above the
projected pans water level, and shorten stand pipe to suit. I can
easily add in a drain if need be to drain fuge for complete hood
removal. Then I could totally eliminate the hang on back resivor /
that I was gong to have to make.

Still working on an idea to allow water that drains back
into main tank after power outage, to flow into the hob resivoir, fast
enough to keep it from overflowing the display tank, but still allow
enough water in the main tank to come up to the bottom of the top
trim as a minimum. Thinking more of a slot than holes, would work
better.

Doesn't sound practical that way. Fuge is too large (16%) for main tank.
You would have your operating water level too low. I suggest you leave
the water in the fuge.

Sounds better, now there is no need to have to slot or drill back side
for water to flow through from main tank when hood fuge drains
back.....

The front panel on the hood opens for feeding etc. Its all made out of
acryic, and today I water tested the fuge and its water tight, no
leaks...anywhere. Hydor pump does a good job of pushing water up, and
gives good flow, but I need to install a few baffles to help channel
and slow water in the fuge a bit.

Sounds like you have your access established. You could also have an
acrylic tube through the fuge for access to the tank. If the fuge design
does not reach from front to back, then my assumption above is wrong
(less than 5-1/2g). Not reaching the front gives another option, slide
it back & forth along the top for rear access for servicing.


I used acrylic piano hinges so the front panel essentially hinges
upwards, so I have pretty well most of the entire front area of the
tank accessible with the exception of 2" of fixed front panel on each
front corner.
Weather it will work or not, matter not, it gives me something to play
with., but it does look promising.

Sounds very promising. Keep me up to date, and please... pictures!

ps: Not sure if it has application in Gill's canopy design. I'd expect
acrylic to buckle (bow) under temperature (from the lights). This
doesn't apply to you, as yours already has to structurally deal with the
fuge's weight, and the moving water would actually keep it from
overheating.

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