Aquarium Cover

[david123]

Hi all,

Im new to marine and still asking lots of questions before i finally set up - 4 months of research now and itching to go. Ive been building my cabinet and buying rocks etc.

I was wondering if there is any reason why I could not put a piece of perspex or glass over the top of my tank to stop water evaporation?

I can possibly see perhaps a problem with algae/dirt on there which may prevent the light from going through? or would this be ok?

I have an arcadia light unit housing 4 t5 tubes - 2 white and 2 blue all 54watts.
I will be going down the reef line with only a few reef safe fish such as percula clowns.

any comment welcome - thankyou
david

[david123]

by reef I mean live rock, soft corals, etc
ta

(no hard corals for me yet thanks!)

[Grins]

I hated my glass covers when they were on. Salt creep made a mess and I was cleaning it daily. Once I got my MHs I decided to take them off because of the heat and I wanted better gas exchange. Personally unless I was housing an escape artist like an eel, octopus, etc. I'd use eggcrate or a plastic mouse to cover the tank and leave the glass out of the equation.

[Marcus Fenix]

some people don't even use tank covers.

for now I'm using the black standard cover the tank came with, but I'll eventually just put a sliding glass. I'm upgrading my lighting fixture.

[david123]

thnaks for the advice guys - i will be posting pics of my new setup soon - whooppeee at last ! !

[rwilliams254]

Why not an open top? My 20 gallon (salt water) is...an the 30 gallon (fresh water) community tank is too.

[david123]

just thought you had to have one - suppose not - the problem i have is that my wife has a habbit of cleaning my new cabinet the tank is on with polish and sprays fly spray and all other kinds of cleaning things which i know are not good if they go into the water - plus the sound of the water moving makes me need the toilet - lol - and also i "assume" the water will evaporate quicker with no top?

anyway thanks for your comments i do appreciate the help and advice i have received so far.
david

[Grins]

The water will evaporate quicker, but there will also be more gas exchange and this is good. You'll get less heat build up and no salt creep on glass issues.

But yeah, the cleaners being sprayed near it aren't good (any way she'd be willing to spray it on a cloth in another room and then wipe it down?). If you have fish that are jumpers (wrasse, etc) I'd want some sort of top but it can be eggcrate or plastic mesh.

[manowar669]

Wouldn't a skimmer be giving you gas exchange with all the contact between the bubbles and the water moving through?

[Reefscape]

Wouldn't a skimmer be giving you gas exchange with all the contact between the bubbles and the water moving through?

not as such no....you want all the gas exchange on the water surface where the surface area is greater...

Niko

[david123]

thanks alot for the advice:dance: very helpfull

[losermike]

not as such no....you want all the gas exchange on the water surface where the surface area is greater...

Niko

I'm new to saltwater keeping but wouldn't powerheads remove this problem? I have no idea I'm just wondering.

[darkcirca]

We just did a glass top, why? Because our diamond goby went carpet surfing and died over night. We have a sump, so the gas exchange can be done in there as well. I'd rather protect my fish than risk losing another one. I can't even buy another diamond goby because the fish stores in this area rarely ever stock them. I managed to get my first one up at That Pet Place in PA on a trip.

I tried the egg crate, the white created a huge reflection and was a sore to look at, while the black limited the light out put to the tank. This was my only other option as plexiglass is ridiculously expensive as well.

[wferr337]

I like a lid on my tank. I too lost a goby to the floor! I think between my skimmer and sump a have a fairly good gas exchange. Even with the lid I need to top off about 1 quart of water daily, i could not imagine it with out the lid.

Two cats = cat hair, not to mention dust and other random florida stuff. I take my lid off every other week when doing my water change and give it a good clean and just use a damp towel to wipe the top inbetween. I am starting up a 125gal and plan on a snowflake eel and will definately have alid.

[Grins]

A lid makes sense with an eel. But with the MHs over my tank I'll live with golden retriever fur ending up in the tank and just fish it out.

[losermike]

Does anyone have any experience with Coralife Salt Creep Eliminator?