I recently completed the hood for my future 90 gallon tank. I finally settled on power compact lighting, supplemented with NO flourescents. Later I regretted this decision, and wished I had spent the extra money for metal halide... but hey - it's the poor man's tank - right?

The basic structure is made from Home Depot pine, in other words the warpiest wood on the planet. The dimensions were not even consistent, with board widths that varied by as much as 1/2". I had to scrap a few pieces simply due to either warps or dimensions. Ventilation is provided by two 3" DC computer fans wired through my homemade harness.

All the wood was either painted with Rustoleum gloss white enamel, or marine polyurethane, or both. The outside was finished with antique red stain and urethaned with 3 coats. The inside area was sheathed with roofing metal from Home Depot and spray painted with Rustoleum gloss white. Later I plan to add mirrors beneath the bulbs for greater reflectivity.

The pc lighting was purchased from Reef Fanatic in California (great store!). Their DIY pc kit was $130 for a 2x96 watt ballast, bulbs, sockets and clips. I use two of these, which gives me a total of 384 watts of power compact lighting, 2 at 6700 kelvin and 2 at 7100 kelvin. The ballasts are remote.

The canopy uses two additional types of lighting, the first of which is 2x40 NO (normal output) flourescent bulbs, Coralife, actinic 03, peaking at 440nm. These bulbs give me the capability of creating a "moon phase" as well as morning and evening lighting. The weakness here is that I wired in normal endcaps, instead of VHO's. Looking back I really wish I would have spent the $40 and put in VHO caps, and changing these will be a pain. But they work for now.

There are also 2x30 watt red incadescents for nightime viewing. The reef takes on a completely different personality at night, with many inhabitants that you never see in daylight coming out and partying hard while you sleep! Some people use a red flashlight, but I wanted to really be able to see what is going on. Not all marine creatures are blind to red light, but many are and nighttime viewing is some of the most fascinating time you can spend with your reef tank.

The final part of the assembly involved using 1" corner trim (pine) from Home Depot along the two long edges on the bottom of the canopy. This creates a lip which allows me to slide a 1/4" piece of glass the entire length of the canopy which retains heat and shields the electronics from water and salt creep. 4 eye bolts were added to the top which will allow me to suspend the canopy from chains.