Lid or no lid?

FishPish

AC Members
May 31, 2010
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I just put together this 20 gallon nano. Instead of buying the kit I thought it would be better to be able to adjust anything individually. My only problem right now seems to be the splashing going on from the top of the water. The minerals in the tank deposit on the top and bottom of my coralife fixture. It does have a splash guard and the light does not run hot at all. However, the deposits hinder the light and I find myself wiping it clean daily. The filter side splashes more than the other, but there is still splashing happening beneath the entire light. I was told it would be bad to add a lid as it would block light. Is my best option to keep cleaning the light with a micro cloth, or just buy a lid to clean? I'm trying to take the cheapest option out without having to change my filter if possible. I really like the bio-wheel concept.


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Try raising your water level until the splashing stops.
 
I cant, its filled to the brim. Also, if I fill the line above the waterfall on the filter, air gets trapped and the bubbles sound horrible.
 
can we have a pic so we can see what egzactly is wrong?
 
What kind of filter is causing the splashing/spray?
 
Thanks everyone. I just picked up a versatop glass top from petco. Im using a penguin 200 filter. The splashing is not bad, it just was ending up covering the light in little white mineral spots. That aside, the package said "to be used on covered aquariums". I did take off the acrylic lens from the fixture as that would help make up for the light loss. In my opinion, the light was fine, I just couldn't deal with wiping it down every day. Hopefully my water won't evaporate so fast either.
 
Unfortunately, you have just traded one item that requires frequently cleaning for another. The glass top will require routine wipe downs in order to keep the dust off the top of it and the salt deposits to a minimum on the bottom of it.

Evaporation is not such a bad thing... It does help cool the tank, which depending on where you live, is a welcome trade off. An uncovered top also allows gas exchange to occur more freely, where excess CO2 can leave the tank, helping to prevent lowered pH.
 
Unfortunately, you have just traded one item that requires frequently cleaning for another. The glass top will require routine wipe downs in order to keep the dust off the top of it and the salt deposits to a minimum on the bottom of it.

Evaporation is not such a bad thing... It does help cool the tank, which depending on where you live, is a welcome trade off. An uncovered top also allows gas exchange to occur more freely, where excess CO2 can leave the tank, helping to prevent lowered pH.

^agreed. Recommend find a solution to the splashing and remove the top. I use an Aquaclear HOB filter and have 4 powerheads crashing the surface. I get a little spray on my T5 fixtures light cover but I don;t even notice it happening (does not get on fixture itself) and I wipe the cover off once a week when I do my WC. Not familiar with penguin HOBs but you may want to look into a different filter? Depending on your system, you may not even need the filter.
 
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