My DIY Tank Hood

Man, that last shot makes it look sort of like a coffin

Very nice work, though. I just built one for my 60 gal a few weeks ago and after seeing yours I'm kind of regretting my design.

Zamboniman said:

LOL! I thought exactly the same thing when I first saw the pic! Hopefully it'll look a bit less like a coffin when it's on the tank.

I looked at a few different designs, both here and at my LFS. Post some pics if you can of what you came up with, I'd like to see it.

Click to expand...

I'm feeling entirely too lazy to go take pics of something I'm not even espescially pleased with

However, it's basicly the standard box made of 3/4" plywood. Where the problem was is I was building it to match the rounded corners on my acrylic tank and I only wanted the front to flip and not the whole top. Therefore, the seam was right in the middle of the radius. I couldn't find any hinges thin enough to keep the gap small so I ended up using 3/16" steel rod as dowling and setting it into the hood and flushing the dowling with the front face. The whole front face of the hood just slides on and off. It also had two cutouts with inserts over the back to allow easy access to my HOBs.

It seemed like a good design at the time but really it's a huge PITA as it turns out. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing I cranked out in a few hours one Saturday so I guess that's what I get

I like the sleek black and the design you chose...even down to the silver knob. I also like how you can open it all the way. Mine opens only about halfway. Well done!

Good job! Your tank looks good too.

Do you have a picture of it on the tank, but open? I'm wondering how the lights are setup.