Re: [APD] AH Supply Enclosures

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

I don't know the price measurements of the Perfecto and the
AHS box and can't help you there.  But I'll offer a few
other comments, fwiw.

The AHS hoods are very nice and the price is very
reasonable. It's a fast way to get up and running. The
ventilation is very good and can obviate any need for fans
in many situations. If Kim says they fit a certain way, I'd
believe him. He's honest, knowledgable, and stands behind
his products.

Depending on how your tank is set up, you can sometimes
just slide the hood back when you want to open up the glass
cover.

If you don't have room to slide back or you have too much
stuff on the rear lip of the tank to make that feasible,
they you might consider making to boxes that are narrower
front-to-back and hinging them together in pairs along
their length. Then you can lift the front box up and rest
it on the back box when you want to get into the tank. You
can use plain box hinges or use some nice brass piano 
hinges for a very spiffy look. A big advantage of this
design is that you can have lights still shining down inthe
the tank while the front glass is open. This is my
personally favored method of using light hoods.  Where
wires need to pass between the front and rear boxes, this
can be done by having holes or slots available for this
purpose, using flexible cable, and wrapping the cable with
plastic spiral wire-wrap to prevent abrasion of the cable
insulation.

George and Karla Booth have some plain text drawings re the
basic design of this type of hood on their excellent
website:

http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/

>From the home page select "Lighting" then select
"Do-It-Yourself Hood". Adjust measurements to your needs.

Some folks make makeshift struts to prop the hood partially
upright -- like the hood on a car. This is a workable
solution if you can avoid knocking down the strut while
working in the tank ;-)

If you are running a single row of lights, then another
alternative is to make the boxes with a slanted front
panel, just like the shape of the plastic hoods that
Perfecto makes. These are slightly more difficult to make
but allow one to open the glass cover and lay it back
against the box so that it stays open on its own.

Another method, if using a single row of lights, is to buy
a plastic hood, gut the works and retro with AHS. This is
very fast and easy.

Good luck, good fun,

--- S K <syl2005 at verizon_net> wrote:

> Hi y'all,
> 
> I'm considering getting the wooden enclosure for a 48"
> tank from AH Supply. 
> I was going to build one, but the price on these is
> great, and they look 
> good. So what I'm trying to figure out, without too much
> error, is how it 
> fits on the 55 gallon tank. Perfecto and All Glass vary
> slightly, for 
> example, on the dimensions. I know that the tops/hoods
> are not 
> interchangeable on each.  I called AH Supply today, and
> Kim told me that it 
> fits around, over top, not on the inside lip. . . .

* * * * * * * * * * *
The paint's almost dry. The floor is being swept. It's coming this November 9, 2005:

the Grand Opening 
presenting the absolutely outstanding winners and all the other terrific entries in the 6th Annual AGA Aquascaping Contest.

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org
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