10 gal. fish tank hood

[Blazeddayz]

Hello everyone, I have a 10 gal. tank and was going to have a buddy build a hood for it. I need it to be taller so I don't lose any grow space. Anyone have a nice photo or diagrams of a good hood setup? I want to use 2 Compact Fluorescent bulb's not the tube lights, and if someone knows some good lights to use that would be helpful. The hood will be made from wood with 2 small vent holes might even use a small fan on one of the holes. I guess basically I want to build a highland tank. Thanks in advance for the input.


Good growing
Josh

 

[Blazeddayz]

Wow 40 plus views and no one has some new ideas. I have looked at different posts on this for long periods of time. I did find some useful ideas, I am going to use the same fan idea as D_muscipula thanks man. By the way I think I meant the wrong low/high land. This is going to be a lowland tank. Sorry for the confusion. So I have my buddy building the hood and I have another question.

The n vision fluorescent Soft white bulbs are the same as cool white? or should I go with their Daylight bulb?

Thanks in advance!
Josh

 

[ilbasso]

By needing it to be taller for grow space, do you mean that you do not want it inside or you want to add grow space above and beyond the confines of the tank? Is just laying a piece of glass over the top not an option? You can get those silver clamp on work lights (often sold for much much more as "reptile lights" or something at pet stores) and lay them on top. I have two of those fixtures clamped on the rim of a tank and the plants inside are finally starting to form pitchers.

 

[D_muscipula]

well for a fish tnak hood I can't help you but I can help for a terrarium hood I have diagrams and stuff like this.

OMg I just found this pic its like of when I started growing cp's last summer.
I have about 6 pots of adelae like 4 drosera indica and a prolifera and a nepenthes hamata inside and I still have room for 2 more four inch pots.

 

[D_muscipula]

sorry here is that last pic i said I ahd found

 

[MrFlyTrap2]

FYI, DM.

The rectifier in your setup is redundant. Your wall transformer is already outputting DC and has one built into it.

 

[MrFlyTrap2]

Sorry for another post, but also think about stuffing some washers or something called a 'standoff' like this under your fan.

It looks like you have it screwed directly flush with the wood. If you do that the fan can't 'suck' anything from behind it, labors a lot, doesn't move any air and can burn out over time. You can find these at almost any hardware store, but you gotta look in those trays above screws and bolts. And like I said, it wouldn't take much just a little extra space. Heck, you could also probably loosen the screw just a bit and have it hang loose just a little bit and it'd be fine.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G15274&variation=

 

[thbjr]

Just a standard top will do. I'm using 2, GE 100watt CFL 6500K from WalMart in mine.
I did line it with aluminum foil. I rarly use the computer fan, bit it's wired direct to a 9VDC
power supply that came from a phone charger.

 

[D_muscipula]

FYI, DM.

The rectifier in your setup is redundant. Your wall transformer is already outputting DC and has one built into it.

Sorry for another post, but also think about stuffing some washers or something called a 'standoff' like this under your fan.

It looks like you have it screwed directly flush with the wood. If you do that the fan can't 'suck' anything from behind it, labors a lot, doesn't move any air and can burn out over time. You can find these at almost any hardware store, but you gotta look in those trays above screws and bolts. And like I said, it wouldn't take much just a little extra space. Heck, you could also probably loosen the screw just a bit and have it hang loose just a little bit and it'd be fine.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G15274&variation=

Thanks for the advice I had never thought of that.
idk if this makes any difference but the fan blows air into the tank, there is another hole on the other side of the lid that has no fan and the warm air natural rises out f the tank.
It's very humid and gets natural ventilation I have hamata growing in there now and here is the recent pics

 

[D_muscipula]

nice tank thbjr,
I might try something similar.

 

[MrFlyTrap2]

DM, a rectifier converts AC electricity to DC. DC electricity is usually needed to run those small fans, and some wall transformers only output AC. You can see by your picture that your transformer already outputs DC by reading the back, so the rectifier is not needed since it has one already built into that black case.

Nate.

 

[thbjr]

Thanks DM. Mr. FT is correct. All you need to do is connect the fan directly to the DC transformer. You can also use the differant voltages to get differant fan speeds. Although my fan is rated 12VDC, that pulls way to much air through. The 9VDC is good for cooling and I have a 5VDC I connect it to if I just want to move a little air.
Take the 2 wires directly from the fan and touch one of them to the outside of the jack (ground) and the other one touch to the inside of the jack (power). Then change the voltage on the transformer and see.
Tom

 

[Blazeddayz]

Thanks for all the input! I will use a old cell phone charger for the fans, and for the lights I went with 1 Daylight bulb and one soft white bulb. Hope that will be the right light for it. I will post pic's soon as it is done.

I just received my new seeds today (Byblis liniflora, Cobra lily, ventricosa) so I'm all exited to get this up and running.

Good growing
Josh

 

[Blazeddayz]

Ok here is the top to show the lights.

here it is with the lid on.

soon as I get the fans I'll slap those on there. Still need to add some reflection above the lights but for the most part it looks great. I told my buddy that it didn't need to be attractive but he did so anyway. He even added wood to the bottom to hide the black base, this tank looks pro. I just hope it works good. haha

Good growing
Josh

 

[thbjr]

Josh, the tank looks SWEET!!! Just a couple of suggestions (you may already know). A good bright white paint on the inside of the hood for reflection will do wonders, Also, the design of the hood will allow you to run 4 100 watt CFL's. If you can overcome the heat factor and still keep the humidity above 50%, well, the additional light will only do your plants good. You'll also want to put reflective material on at least the back glass, sides also if you can. Mylar is best, also great is 'foil' wrapping paper. If there is a grow shop in your area, they will sell black/white plastic that is a very good reflector. Lastly, you can always use aluminum foil.
To help with humidity, your local tropical fish store should sell a under gravel filter that makes a great false bottom. Put a 1/2 of water under the filter with an airstone or perferated airline to bubble and it will really help with raising humidity and add airflow. This thread on how I did my setup may give you some ideas.
Be sure to post some pictures when it's up and running.
Tom

 

[Blazeddayz]

Thanks for the input thbjr and everyone else. Yes I'm gunna get some nice white paint for the inside above the lights. Thats a great idea also, I will add 2 more lights in there. I think the 2 small fans ( one in one out ) will be able to keep it cool but yet keep it warm. I have to put them near the top in the back so they are out of sight.

D_muscipula

idk if this makes any difference but the fan blows air into the tank, there is another hole on the other side of the lid that has no fan and the warm air natural rises out f the tank.
It's very humid and gets natural ventilation I have hamata growing in there now and here is the recent pics

Will I get away with one fan and one vent hole? or with 4 bulbs in there will I need both fans?

 

[D_muscipula]

Thanks for the input thbjr and everyone else. Yes I'm gunna get some nice white paint for the inside above the lights. Thats a great idea also, I will add 2 more lights in there. I think the 2 small fans ( one in one out ) will be able to keep it cool but yet keep it warm. I have to put them near the top in the back so they are out of sight.

D_muscipula


Will I get away with one fan and one vent hole? or with 4 bulbs in there will I need both fans?

I don;t know your lights may produce mroe heat.
the fan I ahve there is 1" in diameter is really small and doesn't affect humidity a whole lot jsut don;t let it runn constantly like put it on a timer.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

That is a very nice hood! I like it alot! Thanks for sharing it. Something like that would look great on a 20 long or larger.

 

[jm82792]

2 of cfls lights that put out 100 watts equivalent produce lots of heat.
I use 2 on a solid wood lid with some holes rose the tank to 80F and for my byblis germination I plugged the holes and got 90F in my 10 gallon tank.
So if you have 2 cfls i'd get lots of air into the box unless you want a prop tank

 

[Blazeddayz]

All right almost done! Here is a few pic's of the new tank up and running. I added 2 extra lights so thats a total of 4 26w = to 100w fluorescents daylight bulbs. I put the small fan on one of the wholes (just bought a ac converter and cut the ends off and wired them together plugged straight into the wall) and that was plenty of air circulation, stays between 85-90 and 50+ humidity. I don't know why there it's not more humid in there (the fan pushes the moist air out faster than it can heat up?). There is also about an inch of water in the bottom? Eventually I will attach a hose to the black pvc connector (with the green Brillo pad in it) on the back down to my big box so it might heat the box up some. Again thanks for all the input and help threw this.

Good growing
Josh