Wood choice for Canopy Build

[cgill311]

I'm building a canopy for my Oceanic 30g cube. It's going to house a 250W MH and actinics lighting fixture. Does anyone know what wood and sealant to use that will be resistant to water vapor and salt?

I'm going to be painting the outside a flat black color to match my stand. Any suggestions on paint? Should I paint the inside as well or seal it with some other product?

 

[maveri9720]

I need to build a canopy for my tank also. Been doing some researching and this is what I have found:

Most people use 1x1's of pine to make the frame and then use plywood to skin the rest of it, b/c it resists warping. You can get the plywood with different veneers on it to make it look nicer. As for sealing it, alot of people use Spar-Varnish to seal it, others use an exterior grade white paint to aide in the reflecting of light inside the canopy. Both will do the job properly. I also suggest taking silicone and running a bead of it in all the joints to help keep moisture out.

I also will be painting the outside black to match my stand.

I used Krylon spray paint when I re-painted my stand. I will probably use the same, except maybe get it in can form and brush it on. Not sure yet.

 

[cgill311]

Mav - Have you run across any good websites that I could look at?

 

[hng]

I pretty much did what Mav described. I used exterior grade latex paint and sealed all the joints. Haven't had any problems after 8 months. If you're gonna build a lot of stuff, go to home depot and buy an entire sheet (4x8 ft) of plywood and they will cut it down into strips for free - this is MUCH cheaper than buying individual strips of plywood.

 

[george]

From what I have read, painting the interior white greatly increases the reflected light from your hood. IIRC, it's even better than having reflectors.

 

[maveri9720]

I wouldn't go that far. It does help out, but your reflectors are what is going to direct the majority of your light.

It also depends upon what type of reflector you use. If you use a flat piece of metal, then the white paint will play a bigger role in reflection.

But if you use a reflector bent around the light, focusing the light downward, then obviously, the white paint will play a much smaller role.

Every little bit helps though and it all depends on the reflector, if any, used.

CGill311, I sent you a PM.

 

[hng]

I use white paint and a parabolic reflector for my lights. White paint can't hurt - you gotta seal the wood with something anyway. But reflectors for lights, especially t-5s make a huge difference.

 

[george]

Oops, I re-read the article and saw what I'd misremembered: The recommendation was to paint the interior white along with the reflector to gain back the light that is not directly reflected down by the reflector.

 

[mojo]

Maveri is right - use Spar-Varnish to seal the wood. It's designed for marine-grade finishes, so can stand up to the saltwater environment.

As for white paint vs. metal reflectors, I remeber reading somewhere that white paint has a reflectivity of ~90% and polished aluminum ~95%, so they're pretty close. When you start bending the aluminum around the light to harness all the light, you obviously get significant gains.