Best Canopy Height? ?

[BrAin]

What is your opinion for the best canopy height? Ive got a 200 and was thinking 10-12 inches would be good.

[SunnyHouTX]

That would be ok. Personal preference usually dictates canopy height but sometimes the use of MH lighting requires a certain height the bulb is above water so the canopy height is decided on accordingly.

[Darth Coqui]

When I redo my canopy it will be around that height.
I will add a few slots for moving of mounted lights, splash guard for the lighting and the extra room.
I believe the way I designed it was 11" tall plus / minus .5"

What do you have in mind for specs and when is your project going to start?
Im itnerested in the build.


Frankie

[Hangman]

I personally have built all my canopies to be at least 12 inches. I like the look and it gives me enough room to mount my lights and still have enough room to work around between the lights and the surface of the tank. I am about to build a new canopy for my 125 and thinking about doing a 16" high canopy.

[ScorpiosWife]

I can't even see the top of my canopy, therefore I have no input. LOL

[Chris360]

The canopy on my 420 is 10" and I like it alot. To me the canopy really sets the aquarium off. Hell I have a 24" canopy on my 40 Gallon

[BrAin]

Hey Frankie - Im thinking 12 overall. It will overlap the aquarium making a 10" inside height. Planning on using 1/2" plywood. I have an old light system that came with the 200, so all I needed was the ice cap 660. I bought that from another boxer a couple months ago. Thinking maybe I'll start in a week or two if I get the stand completed.

[cu0ngsayz]

I was wondering the same!! What's a good/nice looking height or should I say proportional looking. My tank is 30 high. The stand is a bit taller than a eheim 226x. I wanna say the stand is around 3.5' tall?

[eklikewhoa]

If I ever go the canopy route again I will do much taller than 12".

I didn't like the lack of room for fiddling inside the tank while canopy is on, LED lighting was limited due to the lack of height from the water surface, Scared to even try MH with that height due to the splashing, looks proportional though.

[cu0ngsayz]

Yea im running led so room isn't much a worry for me. I just want it to look proportional.

Was thinking 12-15.

[eklikewhoa]

without enough height the LEDs lose the shimmer effect or it is greatly reduced with the lack of height.

my old canopy was about 12" and that wasn't enough.

[Andrew_B]

I think canopy height is real important for overall look. I think the tanks with a canopy the same size as stand is ridiculous or the canopies that are like 5" above the tank. Looking at my 55gal, I wouldn't change a thing on it. I think the bottom of the tank should be the midpoint overall. So stand height = tank + canopy for typical height aquariums at least. Overall 60" tall, and the stand is 30" tall. Whats the height of your stand? 6' tank? I can't get into the effectiveness details with types of lighting like these other guys as I just have double brights mounted to the top of my canopy which works very well.

My 55 - Was my first tank, so it's a petsmart stand as I was ignorant at the time (can't fit a wet/dry). Had jhenry build me a canopy to my design and had him make me new doors for the stand so everything matches. Hope this helps.

[BrAin]

Stand is just over 33. Tank is 24 so 12 more would be just over equal portions. 7' long x 24" x 24" is tank dimensions

[troy tucker]

Like Ek. I am not a big fan of the canopy. Makes it hard to work in the tank. Even changing the bulbs is a bigger job. If you have a fancy stand. Made of hardwoods and trimmed out to look like fine furniture. It should have a canopy to give that look.

I don't have a canopy. just glass tops and a light. I even have big hats covering an ugly old cracked light. It's not fancy but it works.

Brain I look forward to seeing it.

[Darth Coqui]

12" + sounds great. Can't go wrong with extra elbow room.
How will you have the canopy opening?
Me personnaly, I dont like to have lights all in my eyes so I dont have that front panel going up. Just a top with nice knobs, lol pun intended.
I have my light panel top (.75" hardwood) aprox 9.5" so the bottom of my VHOs is sitting 6.5" from top of glass of tank
When i get a chance I will buy dimmer and light timers for my lighting. I have x2 660 icecaps and x1 430 icecap.
I will also splice my blue CPU fans 12v with older cell phone chargers.
I dont have this built as of yet but I do have the top canopy done in my build thread but What I designed in Inventors of my canopy that I would like to built are motors for lifting the top panel to about an 76º (max) and motors for moving the light panel back. Remotely capable. Yeah man, the easier for me to not get my hands on it the better. I guess I am lazy.
I am still researching the tracks and gears but it will be similar to a securty / hide box you instal in a car.
I might not finish my canopy as we are looking to get the Fug out of an apt and get a house however I will incorporate something similar in the future.
So that will be another build as I will have my Petro tank (bigger than the 200 i have now) in a wall with a fish room behind it and my 200 gal as a wall partition all running in a central plumb system, solar panel - r/o system. I use to design fire sprinklers for many years for new apt complexes, very big homes, medical buildings and atleast 700,000 sq. warehouses typically, so I am sure i can achieve this.
Dude I have seen awesome canopies with 24" ht. for more lighting capablities and room for comfort.
I too will have differnet lighting so I made sure that a seprate panel and a good ht. are optimal so that I can add or remove or mix up my lighting with space availibility.
FYI, for me as a DIY'er and never done carpentry before until i built my own recently, revisions for me was every other day and lots of alchohol.
Can't wait to see what your plans are for your canopy. I could get some ideas from you for later builds.

Frankie