netting material for aquarium top

james123

james123

AC Members
Dec 23, 2008
79
0
0
So i have a 55 gallon which i currently have a glass top on. i would like to make some sort of net that will let more light through, as i tried to just leave the tops open and it wasn't an hour and my clown fish jumped out!! luckily i was standing right by the tank when it happened so i was able to just pick him up and put him back in. havent had any luck online finding a place to buy netting. What size mesh would anyone reccommend and where might i find it. also, i guess i would need to make the frame out of aluminum or stainless to keep it from rusting, huh? Thanks in advance for your help!!!
 
Unless you have tiny fish, lighting eggcrate works pretty well. That's what I use to diffuse some of the light from my T5s on my 40g, in addition to keeping fish in.
 
Egg crate does block a lot of light. Many percent of what you are paying to produce.
 
Why not stick with the glass tops and go for a bit stronger light? In addition to keeping in your 'jumpers', the glass top also cuts down on evaporation.
 
Have you looked at home depots plastic screening material? I am not sure how well it will or will not let light through, but it seems like you should be able to find some plastic screening that would work. If I were going to do that I would probably build the frame out of wood, which would last quite a while without direct exposure to saltwater.
 
Debra Mark said:
Why not stick with the glass tops and go for a bit stronger light? In addition to keeping in your 'jumpers', the glass top also cuts down on evaporation.
Click to expand...

Evaporation is a good thing in many cases, especially in warmer climates / during the summer. Limiting it by having glass tops also limits gas exchange, which means more CO2 stays dissolved in the tank water. Increased CO2 will lower the tank's pH.

Glass tops require frequent cleaning when used, otherwise dust and/or salt creep can end up blocking far more light than one might think.

If a tank has fish that like to jump in it, a hard surface for them to impact may not be the best thing. We had a firefish that I startled as I approached the tank once, and it tried to jump. It hit the glass top so hard that it either cracked its skull or damaged its spine. Immediately after hitting the glass top, it appeared that it had knocked itself out. Within 15 minutes, it was dead.

I've seen several threads in various forums over the last couple of years talking about people ordering plastic bird netting in various mesh sizes to build a top for their tanks. Some have a step by step DIY description with photos. In the ones I've seen, they've cut the aluminum window screen frames to size and used those along with the bird netting to make a netted top.
 
that's exactly it fsn, i'm trying to increase the amount of light my tank gets, not diffuse it. and the salt biulds up on it very quickly, and i dont want to use any chemical cleaners and take a chence on getting it in the tank. But like i said earlier, the clown i have jumped out in the first hour i had the tops off...I've heard clowns aren't jumpers, but i'd like for someone that told me that to see my clown laying on the floor outside the tank!!! Anyway, thanks for the help, i'll keep trying to locate some netting. maybe i'll just go buy a big fishing net and cut it out of that with a window screen frame like you said. THANKS GUYS!!!!!
 
I have some links to the netting used saved on my PC at home... I'll try to remember to post them for you this evening.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom