2.5 Gallon DIY Hood Mayhem

**IUnknown** · 26th Apr 2003, 12:27

2.5 Gallon DIY Tank Journal (In progress)

Started by going to my LFS and picking up a 2.5 gallon tank ($12). I used ford blue to paint the back of the tank. I first gave it a very light coat of paint and let it dry for a couple of hours. I eventually ended up with about 4-5 coats, gave it a couple of days to dry and then put some clear duck-tape like tape to protect it from scratches.

After reading articles on nano-reef.com, I decide to make some blueprints of the hood I wanted. I didn't have any of the equipment to do any of the cutting so I took my plans to my local Lumber yard (Southern Lumber Company) and had them do all the cuttings for $15. I had a guy named Mario do a great job for me, and everyone else in the store made it seem like the cuts were not easy to do. I don't know if this is not a regular cutting job, but you might have to twist the persons arm to get them to help you. This is my first time ever working with wood, so I was completely clueless. I bought Walnut, which was a bad choice because the wood came to about $30 dollars. A much better choice would have been Alder, which was half as much and had a nice grain for the dark stain I was going to apply. You could go even less with some Poplar or Pine. The most expensive cut is the rabbits, and I asked for 45 degree cuts for the edges.

The rest of the stuff I got to finish the hood included Minwax Ebony Stain and Clear Satin protective finish. Check out http://www.minwax.com/shoptalk/resources/basics.cfm for information on the steps to stain and finish the wood. I am using Gorilla waterproof glue. Since it expands as it dries I bought two 90 degree corner clamps. Some white paint for the inside of the hood and some sand paper came to about $20. The bookworm lights are going to give me 2 X 13watt compact fluorescents that come sealed in tubes. http://www.paperdirect.com has them on sale for $12.

These are the cuts from the lumbar yard.

This is the corner glued together using the corner clamps. Takes about 4-6 hours to dry.

**bclee** · 28th Apr 2003, 10:10

A great project you have there. I am wondering if there is an opening somewhere for feeding the fish or can the top be opened?

Here in Singapore, sometimes we're doing the opposite. We buy a tank with a hood and ended up removing it due to the heat here.

BC

**DEA** · 29th Apr 2003, 01:26

hi greg
which part of the states are you from?

as bc has said, many of us don't like to use hoods because of the heat problem
the hoods also limit us to using certain types of lighting
i was thinking about doing one that would sit around the edge of the tank while leaving the top open
should be easier than this one i think

good job on your 2.5 (woo, small

) gallon tank hood