# Wanting to build a wood canopy with led lighting to match my lower cabinet.



## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

I want to build a wood canopy to house led lighting complete with a couple of top discharge cooling fans for my 50 gallon Hagen euro rimless tank. Anyone know where I can get some info for this proposed DIY project? Things like where to get leds that are base mounted and what the best ones are to use, etc. etc.
Any help would be appreciated. Cheers Laurie


----------



## MOLOTO (Jun 8, 2010)

I would also appreciate the info and direction as well!


----------



## trout (Mar 21, 2012)

The Guy said:


> I want to build a wood canopy to house led lighting complete with a couple of top discharge cooling fans for my 50 gallon Hagen euro rimless tank. Anyone know where I can get some info for this proposed DIY project? Things like where to get leds that are base mounted and what the best ones are to use, etc. etc.
> Any help would be appreciated. Cheers Laurie


ledgroupbuy or rapidled for the leds/drivers etc. if you can go with cree's, XML's being the best. really any 3w chip will do. depending on what current you'll be driving them at, you might need an actual aluminum heatsink. if running them under say 700mA, you can likely get away with using a chunk of extruded aluminum, c-channel, u-channel etc as a heatsink and a fan or two. for example, i run cree xmls @ 450mA and used 1/8" aluminum u channel, it gets warm, but not hot to the touch, with a fan over it it runs fairly cool.

most mix say cool white (6700k?) with neutral or warm whites in the mix. some also add different blues, reds. also if suspending above the tank, you'll likely want lenses, 40-80deg.

good luck on your project!

edit, adding a pic to help elaborate. very simple yet very effective. i could see this being trimmed out with whatever type of wood to match your stand, i left mine kind of raw due to the fact its hanging of 1/2" conduit so weight was a factor.


----------



## aquafunlover (Jul 8, 2012)

I found some great LED lighting solutions. Basically a 4ft LED tube that converts a basic fluorescent fixture from florescent to an LED. It's the most simple plug and play option I've found (and trust me I've been looking around).

Here's an example of what they look like:
http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/563824475/CE_UL_PSE_2800lm_1500mm_T12_led.jpg

Fixture at Home Depot + Tube = under $100 for great lighting.

I'll be buying one next week and I'll take pics of the setup sometime after.


----------



## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

where are those bulbs from there wicked , 
??????????????????????????????????



aquafunlover said:


> I found some great LED lighting solutions. Basically a 4ft LED tube that converts a basic fluorescent fixture from florescent to an LED. It's the most simple plug and play option I've found (and trust me I've been looking around).
> 
> Here's an example of what they look like:
> http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/563824475/CE_UL_PSE_2800lm_1500mm_T12_led.jpg
> ...


----------



## aquafunlover (Jul 8, 2012)

This is "pre LED" - Regular setup as of right now.

Here is a picture of my DIY hood. It has a 4ft fluorescent ballast with two florescent. The lighting looks a bit off because of the wood in the tank but is super clear right after water changes. I built the hood in a couple hours, painted it in less than 1 hour and the total cost was about $50. I'm planning on making a matching bottom (clean, simple, modern looking) as soon as my work/life schedule permit.

The lights go from Day, to Evening to Moonlight. I used 2 4ft fluorescent tubes for the daylight, 2 CFLs with a blue tinge (party bulbs?) to lower the intensity for the evening lights and some LED Christmas lights for the moonlights. All are on timers and I have very minimal algae growth. I have never tried to grow plants in this tank as it is a cichlid tank.

Daytime Lights:

























Evening Lights:


----------



## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

thats boss, good job, nice tank , and did i spy a gt in there nice fish


----------



## aquafunlover (Jul 8, 2012)

Just Googled the store where I found them.

Here's the site. The address and contact info is on the site:
Richmond Lighting Warehouse Inc. Home

They have different sizes. As well. I did something cool with some LED track lighting from the same store. I'll post on a different thread later.



macframalama said:


> where are those bulbs from there wicked ,
> ??????????????????????????????????


----------



## bcorchidguy (Jan 14, 2011)

Any news on this project? I'm very curious as to how well it works. Post pictures or even just tell us.. OMG I"M SO EXCITED...

Douglas


----------



## cichlid (Jul 30, 2010)

I made my hood, it looks awesome. One suggestion, use Killz primer. Its a mold inhibiter,


----------



## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

can someone make me a hood? 72x19 I have light fixture witch can be mounted inside of it? I can paint it myself? want easy open our drawers? Please pm me a quote Thank you Bob or a plan on how to build??


----------

