Canopy vs No Canopy

[thomas_neil]

Going to start building my stand in the next couple of weeks and I'm back and forth on having a canopy.

Pros of a canopy
-Reduces light spill/glare
-Look nice (Planning on building a matching built in shelf next to the stand and integrating stand and canopy with it for extra storage)
-Wife wants one
Cons
-Have to open it to feed (slight inconvenience)
-Hides the gear (Spent a lot of money on lights, Id like to see them)
-Have no idea how to build one (would want doors that open vertically. How do I support the canopy-those kind of questions)
-Harder to do maintenance?

Looking for some advice on more pros vs cons and any ideas on how to build one. Tank is an acrylic 96"x30"x26" and will be placed against a wall on the 8' side. Planning on building the light rack out of extruded aluminum.

 

[jp_75]

I think the biggest con will be it’s hard to work on the tank with it. My new tank has one and worry about it.

 

[salty150]

I'm in the same boat...

I think a matching canopy, if it is built nice, looks nicer as well.

It keeps the light from spilling into the room, etc.

It also helps with evaporation.

You also don't need to buy a mesh top (which kind of defeats the purpose of having an open top tank) if you have a canopy.

Not sure what lighting you have - but even the best lighting setups I have seen - you can still see the power cords, etc. - the canopy hides all of that.

If you use a canopy however, you might need to install some small circulation fans (Tunze sells one) to help with the humidity and air flow under the canopy.

 

[Rijodan]

-Wife wants one

Think this answers it mostly,

all your pros are right, and you can argue it also lowers evap

i would also add the cons : possibly add heat depending on light source (even led without decent air removal will act as heaters), added cost to build, increased height if youre limited.

having to open it to feed is like complaining you need to open the door to enter your house, theres designs that are very unobtrusive to open/close.
There are many build guides on tops you could search through on here, or even just look into some cabinet builder youtube its very similiar you can even get the ez-shut hardware for cabinets off ikea. At the end of the day its a box with walls. for support i built mine to sit ontop of tank but others hang them from ceiling and that stops your complaint of harder maintenance and feeding as it just acts as a light shield.

Once your tank is mature the maintaince is really just feed and waterchanges. Other wise hands out of tank as much of possible, and depending how your system is built is possible to do w/c from sump or inline.


Big questions to ask yourself:
If you dont will the light spill spoil the living conditions of your home? My first houseit was in a side room to the living room and always had blue glare on my tv and that gets annoying quick.

How much will your wife complain if its bothering her living conditions of the house? For those outside the hobby, they dont know what those lights are, how much they are, or why the color is important to the tank etc]

if you build one, do you have the willpower and/or skill to make it look decent?

 

[thomas_neil]

Think this answers it mostly,

all your pros are right, and you can argue it also lowers evap

i would also add the cons : possibly add heat depending on light source (even led without decent air removal will act as heaters), added cost to build, increased height if youre limited.

having to open it to feed is like complaining you need to open the door to enter your house, theres designs that are very unobtrusive to open/close.
There are many build guides on tops you could search through on here, or even just look into some cabinet builder youtube its very similiar you can even get the ez-shut hardware for cabinets off ikea. At the end of the day its a box with walls. for support i built mine to sit ontop of tank but others hang them from ceiling and that stops your complaint of harder maintenance and feeding as it just acts as a light shield.

Once your tank is mature the maintaince is really just feed and waterchanges. Other wise hands out of tank as much of possible, and depending how your system is built is possible to do w/c from sump or inline.


Big questions to ask yourself:
If you dont will the light spill spoil the living conditions of your home? My first houseit was in a side room to the living room and always had blue glare on my tv and that gets annoying quick.

How much will your wife complain if its bothering her living conditions of the house? For those outside the hobby, they dont know what those lights are, how much they are, or why the color is important to the tank etc]

if you build one, do you have the willpower and/or skill to make it look decent?

Tanks in our basement sitting area. I didn't think about the light glaring off the tv as the current tank is in a room with no tv. Plan to mount it would be in the wall behind it and have it go up to the ceiling.

I will probably end up building one. I don't think airflow will be a problem, I have an exposed ceiling in the basement so evaporation/heat can get out above the canopy. The added heat might help as the basement is typically pretty cool.