- Joined
- Mar 29, 2019
- Messages
- 45
- Reaction score
- 25
Nice fixture!!
You can paint, but if you want to protect the wood, use a water based varathane.
Couple of coats, and it will be waterproof (after it cures)
Not sure about the other products since painting would required good ventilation, and long drying/curting time.
My wood canopy made 18 years ago was never protected (on inside Panels). Still good till this day.
I varathened ONLY the outside.
Certainly consider painting the part of your canopy that touches the tank. It will get beaten up by salt, water, etc.
What you see is just the stain on the inside.
However I did something different for my side panels.
I put on a reflective sticker, to add more reflection inside the canopy.
In my Case to Refect the T5's. Not needed so much for a Hanging LED fixture.
Also the film has protected my wood. I just wipe the salt on it every so often.
The film has also stayed on (not peeled) for 15 years.
The reflective does make a difference for lighting.
The one thing I have enjoyed, that you still can add/modify on one side at least, is a HINGED side panels for access.
I can't imagine running, maintaining my tank with deep access from above (canopy on top).
Maybe in you case the plan it to remove your canopy each time. Probably not too much work for 29 Gallon Tank.
Mine is a 90 Gallon, 4 Foot tank.
Have you also thought how you are going to run plumbing with the Canopy.
Things like that make removing Canopy difficult, and affect you access to inside tank.
Again, maybe a 29 Gallon Tank is small enough to avoid the concerns I mention.
Nice canopy! I was going to try to fashion a hinged door for front side access but as the whole height is not bad plan to just remove or flip up the top panel.
For plumbing I made a notch for overflow on left and return on right.