Help, my canopy's too small

[hng]

I was sanding my newly built canopy for a 30 g tank last night and thought I'd dry fit my VHO bulbs and endcaps to see how it looked and.....arghh, to small. I guess I didn't realize that 36 in bulbs with endcaps were so long. I need to squeeze out another 1/2 inch somehow in my canopy. Any suggestions?

[LiquidLunch]

My side pieces are 2" x 6"'s and I got around that age old problem by routering out a cavity to accomodate the needed length. Your front and rear pieces attach to the side pieces in areas where this cavity would not compromise the integrity of the canopy. I've built 3 canopies this way...
oh, if you're sanding already i guess the top pieces are already nailed/screwed in. you may have to pop them out/off to get good access for the router or wood chisel if you decide to go that route.

[hng]

Hmm...sounds like a good idea LiquidLunch. I'll have to wait till I get home to check if I can do that. The thing that gets me is that the width inside the hood is just over 36.5 inches which I thought would fit. Maybe I measured wrong?

[VWD]

Yes I think that is about the only thing You can do

[LiquidLunch]

The endcaps account for atleast an inch from what I recall.

[Tim224DT]

I had to do the same thing with my 72gallon canopy.

It worked well!

Tim

[Twitterbait]

plus you won't need to mount them, just slide in and out.