DIY Aquarium Hood
Here's a picture of my hood that I made out of 1/2" PVC pipe and plastic rain gutters. The hood can hold up to four full length bulbs and the bulb connections are all water proof (safe from splash but maybe not submersion). When the hood is open, there is lots of room to clean the tank. I soldered the wires to the bulbs and slid part of a 3 - 4 inch strip of bicycle inner tube (the BMX size tube, 1.75 is around the right size) to cover the ends and make a water proof seal. You can use pull straps to close the other end of the innertube around the wire but I didn't do that in the pictures. Holes were drilled in the appropriate places on the PVC fittings to run all the wires inside the PVC pipe to the opposite side and then back out to the remote ballast. One last thing. I had to cover the inside of the gutter with tin foil and run a wire from there to a ground (the third prong in the middle of some plugs). The bulbs wouldn't go on if I didn't do this. The lights are controlled by timers.
| Quantity | Description | Price |
| 10ft | plastic rain gutter | $5 |
| 4 | gutter ends | $10 |
| ~40ft | house wire (for lamp cords, etc) | $20 |
| 12ft | 1/2" PVC pipe thin wall | $5 |
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4 elbows 2 corners? 2 thread to slip |
PVC fittings | $4 |
| 1 | bicycle inner tube (hopefully free at bike shops) | - |
| 2 | Twin bulb fluorescent ballast (you can buy 2 double bulb shop light and take the ballast out of it | $24 |
| Total $68 |
| DETAILED DIAGRAMS | ||||
| Hood Closed | Hood Open | |||
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Be sure to have enough space in the back for your filters click here |
PLAN VIEW | You have lots of room here to work in your aquarium with hood open. click here |
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click here | FRONT VIEW | Bulbs don't glare in your face with hood open. click here |
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See larger picture. click here |
LEFT VIEW |
Weight of bulb keeps them facing down when the hood is open. click here |
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click here | ISOMETRIC VIEW | click here |  |
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Drill large holes in the gutter ends with a circle saw for the 2 bulbs and the 1/2" PVC. Use a short piece of 3/4" PVC (red) as a brace to keep the gutters from sliding around on the 1/2" pipes. click here |
CLOSEUP | Drill holes in PVC fittings as required to route wires in and out of the PVC fittings. Solder wires to bulbs or use some other kind of connector. Larger picture contains component labels. click here |
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Wires route through the 1/2" PVC pipes to the opposite end of the hood. Use 2 timers to get a sunrise / sunset effect. click here |
CLOSEUP (left) BOTTOM VIEW (right) |
Hood can hold up to 4 bulbs as shown here. Line the inside to the hood with foil to help ground the bulbs. click here |
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