How tall should my canopy be?

[Balz3352]

Currently designing and building my canopy. How tall should I make it?

Tank is 29.5 in tall.
Stand is 40 in (if this matters)

Going to run halide with t5 and led stunner.

Im thinking 12in working height

Doors will be 16in with overhang. (building something like aquatic arts display.)

 

[projectx]

is it going to be a lift to open, have doors? i tend to make mine overly tall so that i can do tank maint without whacking my head. I also use light lifters to raise and lower the lights to get them where i want them

 

[Balz3352]

It's going to be a metal frame with doors hanging. So all doors can be taken off it will not lift open

 

[halmus]

If you're concerned at all about the visual appeal of the stand/hood, I recommend mocking something up out of cardboard so you can visualize how the final product will look.

My last hood (running MH) was 24" tall on a 24" deep tank. Frankly, it looked odd. I built it so that the light rack could raise up on pulleys inside the hood. That saved a lot of burnt hair on my arms by getting the MH out of the way to service the tank. The hood was tall to allow the mechanics to happen. Very convenient, slightly ugly.

My opinion: I recommend having some convenient way to be able to move the lights enough to allow easy access to the tank. If you're like me and can't keep your hands out of the water. Plan the hood dimensions around that while trying to keep the hood from being too massive and still big enough to not cuss every time you need to mount a frag.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[static reef]

Average height is 8-14", but with halides and reflectors being bulkier lighting choices, you will want to go taller or cut notches in the top of your canopy and rest the reflectors on top