DIY hood for my tank

k well i got it the hood assembled, minus the lighting, i have also not cut the part that is going to be hinged yet, i painted part of it to see how well it will dry right now (it is kinda cold out, and the wood feels a little damp) the paint i am using is a rubberized paint just so the moisture doesn't ruin the wood.

Then i just gotta put in the lights and wire them up, that leads me to a question how should i go about wiring them, and can they all be on one plug??? They are 4 4 foot fixtures with 2 4 foot 40watt bulbs each. the wires that come out of the ballast are a live wire, and a negative. I want to wire it up to a plug or to so i can just unplug them if i need to which side of the plug is positive and which is negative???
 
k well i got the lighting in and all wired up and it works pretty good, more then enough light for not needing to grow plants, i also got the inside all painted up and seales, just gotta make a cut where i am putting hinges and the paint the outside of it black and were good to go

O i will post some pics a little later when i can figure out why i can't get any pics from my phone to my comp. I am almost done everything for my 518 gallon tank now and i pretty stoked to go get the fish from my buddies unlce, all i need now is to buy a heater, an FX5, and a pump that can handle 1200gph at 6 feet of head for my wet dry
 
k well here are some pics of what has been done, still needs some more paint, the outside isn't painted at all, i will get some more pics when it is done and the tank and everything is inside the house (will prolly be next weekend hopefully gotta get a few friends to help move it) it may not be the most professional but so far has only cost me 10 bucks so i cant complain!!

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Good work so-far. Your lights have two wires, not Positive & Negative [that's DC], they are Hot & Neutral, and you seem to have figured out how to connect them to produce light. I would just point out a couple of things that may be in your best interest:
The NEC calls for all devices that will be in a wet, damp location, or less than a certain distance from water to be on a GFCI [Ground Fault Circuit Interupter] circuit. This can either be a special outlet [$15 or so] or a special circuit breaker [little more expensive] in your panel-box. I would strongly suggest you make sure of this, as when Arrows and such big fish decide to kick, they can force a lot of water through even tiny cracks... There should be a green screw into the casing of each light fixture, a ground wire should be connected from these to the ground prong of a grounded, polarized plug before you plug into such an outlet. If there is even a tiny leakage to ground from the hot wire due to a short-circuit [water conducts], the GFCI outlet or breaker will trip very quickly [nanoseconds] and potentially prevent serious damage to fish, equipment, home or self...
A drip-loop should be left so that the cord does not provide a path for splashed or condensate water to the outlet also.

Even thin cast-acrylic is quite strong... Cut out a plywood frame the size you need to cover the top of your tank [what is it 7x3.5?], and then cut openings in it to pass the light into the tank. Screw 1/8" plexiglass, or fluorescent light diffuser panels [smooth side down] over the openings with stainless steel self-tapping screws to create a cover to protect your lights and fish... I can't guarantee that a 24" arrow couldn't break through, but it should work well...

Be happy to clarify if necessary...
 
Yeah i already hooked up the grounds on the lights, and have a GFCI outlet so we are all good there, and it looks like we have the same idea for protecting the lights from the fish too.

Thanks for the feedback, and advise
 
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