Waste organic material from a reef community is repeatedly recycled by fish in the water column and corals on the surface. Most that isn't recycled in the short term is then transported into fine sediment in regions such as lagoons or the deep fore reef.
View of the entire aquarium set up in October 2004.
The canopy that I decided to construct for the tank was open topped to allow for good ventilation, ease of access to all areas and a front door that swings open and is fully removable without too much trouble. The below diagram shows the general lay out and the major dimensions. The reason for the small shelf along the back side of the tank was to accomodate the pumps for the water circulation system. The outlets for this was also attached to the canopy.
Tank canopy diagram showing all major dimensions.
The central beam across the top of the canopy was required to hang the lighting hood above the tank. With it hanging, also means that it is a very simple process to adjust the height of the lights above the tank and make it very easy to remove them totally for full tank access. The skeleton frame is shown in the below diagram. Since the front is a completely removable swing door, there are no beams across the front.
Photograph of the tank canopy skeleton completed.
The door was constructed by simply making a rectangular frame and covering it with the panelling. To allow the door to both swing and be quickly removed, a latch was used on both ends, as shown in the below diagram. To remove the door, the latch on either end just has to be pulled open, then the door lifts off.
One of the two latches that allows the door to swing up or be removed easily.
A short length of 25mm PVC piping was cut to prop the door open, which can be seen in the below image of the door in the open position.
The tank canopy's swinging, full length door open.
The swinging, full length door closed.
Top view of the tank canopy.
Comments
nice work Written by greg on 2006-03-29 09:04:16nice design i just did one for my 55 gal and i am doing one for my 125gl, and my sons 40gl, like this design for my sons room minus the beam, do the slide locks act as the hinges? and what type of wood did you use?
Re: nice work Written by
on 2006-03-29 09:24:07Yes, the slide locks or latches act as the hinge to swing the door up. Also means that it is very quick to remove the entire door for access to the tank. When feeding the tank I just swing up the door, rest it on a short length of PVC that rests on the top edge of the tank.
For this I simply used pine, nothing fancy.
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