# How tall should my canopy be? 19"x11"



## Robanada (Jan 16, 2010)

Hey guys, I'm building an aquarium from scratch, and all that's left is the canopy and the trim around the bottom. I don't have a lot of experience with aquariums, so I'm having some problems with this last part. If the canopy is 11 inches deep by 19 inches wide, it leaves a 1/8" gap on all sides- this is perfect, I think. I constructed a mock-up out of cardboard, and when I make it 4" tall, it seems too big- but 3.5" seems too short. It's hanging over 1/2", but it still looks a little goofy when I have a 1" overhang. 
The tank height is approximately 14.5"

How tall would you guys make your canopy?

Thanks!


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Howdy....I just recently built a stand as well for my 55g....What I can tell yea is consider he height of your tank and your own height for maintenance.
Like for me (5'3") and a standard sized 55g a height of 3ft for the stand works wonderful...a height of 37" not so cool....

What I also find helpful, my stand is actually 5" deeper then the tank, which gives me 2" on the back (so it can slide all the way to the wall, but the stand itself can't cause of baseboards) and 3" in the front to set fods, nets yaddy ya on to while I work on the tank.
(You can see pictures of it under my aquarium log "New 55g")


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## Robanada (Jan 16, 2010)

Cool cool, thanks for the info. I checked out your tank- and I think it's a bit bigger than what I'm working with (a 10 gallon). I was more trying to figure out how big to make the canopy so that it doesn't look like it's proportionally too big or small. It seems like most canopies are 1/3-2/3 the height of the glass, so in my case, I'd be looking at around 5-6 inches. I just don't want it to look comically large, ya know? xD


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

LOL yea that recent stand was for a 55g 
For the 10g (standard sized) I'd maybe make the top board 0.5" larger on the back, left & right and about 2" larger on the front OR make all 4 sides 0.5" only (to lay down stuff while working the tank). 5-6" overhand would bee too much for my taste (or rather my eyes lol).

For the actual height of the stand I'd do 30" (that's what my 10g sits on too); to visually "break" this so it doesn't look like this lil tall skinny stand add one, ideally 2 shelf inside of it and put either decorations or fish supply or both in it.


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## Robanada (Jan 16, 2010)

Ooh wait- are we talking about the same thing?
It's going to sit on my desk, so I'm not making a stand. I just want to make the part that sits on top and houses the lights, this part. 

A 5-6 inch overhang would be too much for me, too! I was suggesting that the vertical height of just the canopy itself would be 5-6 inches, with a 1/2 inch overhang. 
Just in case there was any confusion, I threw this together- I apologize for how crude it is, I'm not very good with this sort of thing. 

These are the dimensions I was thinking of:











The blue measurement is the one that I'm not sure about, and am looking for suggestions for.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Alright...no we weren't talking bout the same, you want a hood and I talked about a stand lol
For Hood/ Light DIY; I think you'd find the ideas in our DIY thread helpful here http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...t/adventures-budget-diy-lighting-34614/page2/ Comes with plenty of pictures too.

Yea the hood I'd only cut barley larger then the tank (You can see my DIY Hood in the thread named, post #16)
The height there will directly depend on what lights/ fixtures you'll actually use? Beig a 10g I doubt you use a flourecent strip but rather screw in bulbs right?
Post #28 here has the pictures of the bulbs I use http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-aquariums/aqueon-mini-bow-vs-eclipse-3-a-35367/page3/
For it and the fixture I'd do a height of 5" as well. Thou my 10g measures top-bottom where the lights are 3.5"; so 5" sound safe size for a lot bulb sizes to me.

Really make sure what exact lights and fixtures you wanna get FIRST and then built the height based off of it, you don't wanna wind up building it and then realize you're missing 1/8" in the end...


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## Claudia1002 (Jan 3, 2010)

What is the minimum clearance required for the lights? Work off of that first.


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## Robanada (Jan 16, 2010)

Angel079 said:


> Alright...no we weren't talking bout the same, you want a hood and I talked about a stand lol
> For Hood/ Light DIY; I think you'd find the ideas in our DIY thread helpful here http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...t/adventures-budget-diy-lighting-34614/page2/ Comes with plenty of pictures too.
> 
> Yea the hood I'd only cut barley larger then the tank (You can see my DIY Hood in the thread named, post #16)
> ...


Thanks for the links, and the advice =) I am using screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs (6500K, 550 lumens each, i believe 13 watts? might be 9..)
I've already built the fixture, so all I need to do is bolt it into my hood now- the one I haven't made yet, haha.
I've constructed a full size model out of cardboard just to get a feel for it, and 5" looks about right..I think I'll go with that once I get around to the hardware store. (I live on campus at school and spend all my time studying- i hardly have time to get out and plan the construction! Hah)



Claudia1002 said:


> What is the minimum clearance required for the lights? Work off of that first.


Um, I'm not entirely sure what this means- the bulbs and reflector hang down 2.5" from the top of the canopy. So, if I leave an inch of glass above the top of hte water, with a 1/2" overhang on the canopy, that should give me 3" clearance between the water surface and the edge of the reflector- if I go with a canopy that is 5" tall. 
Is that what you meant?


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Sounds like a rock solid planning to me there! Thou some picture os the "making" would be nice afterward...if you hadn't noticed with the other links...we LOVE DIY ideas here lol
PS nice choice on lights there, your plants will appreciate it


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## Robanada (Jan 16, 2010)

Angel079 said:


> Sounds like a rock solid planning to me there! Thou some picture os the "making" would be nice afterward...if you hadn't noticed with the other links...we LOVE DIY ideas here lol
> PS nice choice on lights there, your plants will appreciate it


Haha, ok, this is part of a huge project, and I haven't been taking that many pictures, but I'll definitely update this thread when I'm done. 

I wanted to ask you about those plants, by the way- I saw your posts in some other threads, and it sounds like you know your stuff!
I don't um..have..any plants... I have fake plants, but I didn't want the challenge of growing plants, since this is my first aquarium since my fishbowls with goldfish as a [younger] kid (10 years ago?). 

I'm concerned about algae growth, i was going to get an otto, but apparently I'm supposed to get 5 or more. And, according to aqadvisor, my tank won't support 5 ottos. Plus I've been choosing colors for this tank to contrast with blue fish, hah.

Do you think that I should worry about this? 
Not to hijack my own thread or anything xD


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

:lol: You can do to your threat whatever you please

That's correct there on the Oto's, they pref living in groups, also they're super sensitive fish, so don't introduce them to new set ups, ideally wait a few months till the tank is more established before adding them.

That's a myth many people fall for: You're tank will be much more vulnerable to have certain algae develop without plant then if you'd have plants.
Plants are like a bio filter inside your tank. Part of the nutrition they feed off of is the fish waste; that said if you don't have plants absorbing the bad stuff - Algae will develop on your decor and rocks.

Since you're redoing your hood anyway right now, while you're at the Home store (LOwes, Homedepot what ever have you) buy bulbs that fir the sockets you have, look for GE, Phillips, Bright effects manufactures and their "Daylight" bulbs, they're full spectrum and rated between 5-6500 kelvin. These bulbs are perfect for growing plants (that's what's over ALL my tanks and has for year on end now).

With that then in place, a fine substrate (play sand, pool sand or fine gravel) and some fish to come, there's nothing standing in the way of a nicely planted tank :-D

Many think you need special substrate or ferts or CO2 systems to even think about plants - All tank you see under my aquarium log here to the left under my name are set up without all of that and the plants speak for themselves.

Now it is to add that some plants work better then others in small tanks, simply because of the size they grow to be. And then there's plants like Java Fern or Anubias that prefer being attached to rocks or driftwood and NOT buried in the gravel 

That all said...you can order plants here if you don't have a local supply Sweet Aquatics

Any more questions pleaseee hit me with them - I love it when I can get people to go for planted tanks, cause really its much easier then you'd think at first :-D and soo much more natural looking IMO


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## Robanada (Jan 16, 2010)

Hmm.. I already got the 6500k daylight bulbs, so i'm good to go there.
I do like the look of swordgrass.. The problem is that this tank is adjacent to another tank not containing fish, and I'd like to create the illusion that these are the same tank (they share a common wall). The tank without fish must have gravel- sand will not work. Do you think that I'd be ok planting my tank, and then putting gravel on top of the sand? If not, then I suppose I could go for some of the driftwood plants..
I do like the look of hairrass though. I was disappointed that the artificial stuff looks so fake and is so expensive for what you get.


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