DIY Canopy Material

CoopsCoralReef · Aug 18, 2016

I have decided to build a canopy to house my AI Primes and LET T5 kit for my white Reefer 250. I would prefer it to be either a white or black canopy. I am a total noob when it comes to anything DIY, so could someone please recommend the type of material the canopy should be made? I have yet to decide if the canopy will go to the rim of the tank, or if I will leave a gap in between the canopy and tank, so any advice on that would be appreciated as well :)

Anthony Wood · Aug 18, 2016

Keep it light. This is what I did. Use premium wood 1x2's then enclose it with the thinnest plywood smoothest you can get. Also use wood glue and finishing nail (the super skinny one) to put it together. Finishing nails are a PITA to hammer but I'm the end you won't split the 1x2's with them and have ugly screw or nail hands everywhere. Then just use whatever spray paint or paint can color you would like. To hide the edges where the plywood ends use some cheap decorative trim (the stuff that is on your walls of your house where the wall meets the floor.

For the front doors. When I built mine for my old 125g instead of putting small doors in to access the top which makes it hard to work on the tank. The entire front on my canopy was the door. It was on a couple long thin hinges. So when I had to get to the top of the tank I simply just flipped up the entire front. But if you like the door look obviously do that.

Idk how the hanging kits or hanging brackets are on the AI primes so you'll have to figure that out yourself.

Things you'll need for this build are a measuring tape, hammer, finishing nails, wood glue, 1x2's premium wood, thinnest smoothest plywood you can get, decrotive trim and hinges. You'll also need some sort of saw to make the cuts. But you don't need the saw necessarily because if you come with all the measurements Lowes will make all the cuts for you which would be better because you'll get better 90 degree end cuts and straighter cuts on the plywood then using a hand saw. Which will make putting it together so much easier. If you want to do it all yourself having a miter saw and table saw or a friend that has them makes life easy because you'll get exact clean cuts.

Word of advice don't get frustrated when your make some mistakes and quit. It's gonna happen and it's happened to everyone at some point. Everyone starts as a beginner but with some practice you'll get the hang of things.

Last note this is what I did and a pretty good guideline I think to get started. Obviously tweek or adjust what I just said to best meet what you want the canopy to look like.

CoopsCoralReef · Aug 18, 2016

Thanks for all the suggestions. My dad will be helping me do the cuts, he has a table saw and anything else that may be needed such as a router. We have built tanks and stands together before, just want to cover all bases before proceeding. I have considered going the plywood route. I would likely seal it with epoxy after painting to prevent warping. How old is your canopy and have you had any issues with warping?

Anthony Wood · Aug 18, 2016

fishboy11 said:
Thanks for all the suggestions. My dad will be helping me do the cuts, he has a table saw and anything else that may be needed such as a router. We have built tanks and stands together before, just want to cover all bases before proceeding. I have considered going the plywood route. I would likely seal it with epoxy after painting to prevent warping. How old is your canopy and have you had any issues with warping?

Zero warping issues! The top and back is open since the back of the tank was maybe 4-6" from a wall. So any evaporation left the canopy and didn't condensate on the canopy mine was latex based spray painted. The plywood I used was the 1/8" premium stuff not the stuff you would normally thing of when it comes to plywood. Let me see if I can find a picture of it and I'll post it here. Canopy was up for a year and two months. Expoxy is overkill of you use latex based paint.