DIY Glass Canopy

After making my canopy with light I have been struggling to find a way to include glass between the lights and the tank, to prevent any water damage being caused to the wood or the lights itself.. I wasnt able to use a regular canopy since there was almost no clearance for it to open and if i were to have a front and back piece of glass custom cut then the front would only be 2" and thats no where near comfortable.. So the other day i came across an idea on another board and decided to implement it on my tank...

So heres are instructions on how to make your own sliding glass canopy for a 29G tank

Tools needed:
-Inside corner molding --- $2.50 for 8' at HD
-Two 1/4"thickness 29x5" glass --- $16 at a local glass shop
-Scissors - FREE :silly:

Heres what the inside corner molding looks like


In the picture below the C slot is where the glass will go


First measure out what length of the molding you will need. In my case it was 11.5". I then proceeded to cut 2 11.5" strips of the molding. One will be for the left side, the other for the right.
The whole concept of the molding is to hold the glass thats closer to the back in place and provide an even smooth surface for the top glass to slide on. (the top glass is not held by anything, its just resting on the molding)

So here are the results




Showing exactly how the Top glass rests on the molding
Halfway Closed


Open


So far so good. Only thing left would be to silicone 2 handles to allow me for easier glass movement.

Now its time to learn from my mistakes..
The slot in the inside corner molding is perfect for glass thats 3/16" thickness. But I only found that out after getting the 1/4" glass. The glass was able to fit into the slot but not fully, therefore not allowing me to fit the whole thing on top of the tank.
My solution to this was to cut the molding to make a T, so that the bottom glass still stays in place and the top is allowed to slide freely.
Heres a picture of what im talking about



Well Thanks for Watching and Enjoy!!

lol just scroll up and down real fast between the 2 pictures above
:silly:

lol j/k will make a video later (no batteries)

Thanks everyone:headbang2:

jahma said:

I hope you have good luck with those compact flourescents. The ones I started with said not to use with a timer. After the first power outage mine never turned back on.

Click to expand...

hmmm i didnt see anything on the package saying that its not to be used with a timer, guess will have to google a bit on that.. But I do know it says something about not to be used with a dimmer. But either way i have a manual timer... my finger clicking the switch :silly: