# DIY Tank hood and set up. 20gallon long (12 Pictures)



## cichlidfeesh (Apr 6, 2009)

Hey everyone, just thought I'd share my project with you. I basically bought a bare 20 gallon long and decided that i wanted to make my own hood and decorations. The hood material consisted of a plastic flourecent light panel that is suggested on this site under diy tank hood material, It cost about 6 dollars for a 4' by 2' sheet, which was more than enough to finish my hood. The decorations were rocks and drift wood that i picked up at a local river (Santa Fe river in Gainesville Florida). The sand i used was Quickcrete sand, just normal looking sand that cost 3 dollars for a 50# bag, i only used half of it for the tank and i must say i am really pleased with the way it looks (very natural looking with the wood and rocks).

This is the set-up i used to cut the plastic, i basically clamped it down with a straight edge and ran a utility knife over it 









Second is a picture of the bare tank with the hood material over it, just making sure my dimentions were correct 









Then i went to work cutting out the light box









Here is the light box, i used a combination of plastic cement, super glue, and some other plastic adhesives, the reason i used such a variety of adhesives is becasue i never really did something like this before so i was just trying everything out, in the end they all seemed to work the same though lol.









Here is the light box being painted, I just used the dollar can of black spray paint from Wal-Mart









This is the tank hood, i cut out 1/4'' strips of plastic to frame it and add support, Im not sure if i needed to do this but it worked out well, i made the frame on the bottom of the hood so when i rested on the plastic lip of the tank it would be raised up, this made it so i can pick it up easy when i need to lift it off the tank.









Here is the hood and painted light box. The hood has a cut out for the filter, and 2 lids that use a brass hinge. The lids i later reinforced with extra plastic so they wouldnt bend. 









This is me painting the hood itself, 2 plastic strips outline where the light box fits on the hood, i used masking tape to make sure no paint got on where the light shines through.









This is the light box, i installed the light with adhesive, and i coated the insides with aluminum foil to make sure the light doesnt shine through the paint and to help reflecting. i also cut a hole for the power cord, and i rerouted the wires for the switch and cut a hole for the switch so i wouldnt have to lift the light box up to turn it on. the switch for the light was glued on the back of the light box.









Here is a top view of the hood all put together on the tank









Here is a picture of the tank with sand, rocks, and wood, the wood still has a white film and is a little bleached, hopefully it will return to its original dark color sometime.









Here is the final picture, water is in, there are also some guppies, just wanted to see if the water was safe. i still have some work to do putting on a background and finishing with the plants. 









Well, i hope you enjoyed my little project, the reason going to all this trouble to set up this tank wasnt to save money on the hood, basically it cost my the same amount to build it with all the tools and materials, but it was to spent time doing something i enjoy, i think we can all relate to that lol. Sorry for any spelling errors and all that, i hope that you will give me some feedback. Also i'm not sure what fish im going to put into it. Any suggestions would help!

-mike


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## ctinsley (Apr 24, 2009)

Hey man I like what you did. Im into diy myslef. I made my stand canopy and im working on my background. I would put a lot of small fish that school in there like some tetra. With a smaller tank you can keep a couple of medium sized fish but a lot of small ones would give the tank more action.


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## ctinsley (Apr 24, 2009)

also i would put a background on it.


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

:thumb: Bravo :thumb: 
Dude, that`s more than OK.
Thanx for sharing


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## D-007 (Jan 3, 2008)

Excellent DIY project. =D>


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## Morpheus (Nov 12, 2008)

Awesome job. =D>


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## kjhydock (Apr 28, 2009)

Groovy. Very unique! :thumb:


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

very nice. I would have left the top clear and only painted the light box...just preference. Keep us updated on how the plastic holds up and if it warps.


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