I used to have an open top 90 gallon fresh with metal halides. I went to a closed top after 6 or 7 of my rainbows jumped out. One of them made it clear across a 15 foot family room before I found him under the couch.
Open Top Aquariums
- Thread starter djlen
- Start date
Hummmm, fish chips.
You can also raise up a Powercompact set up like the the little legs they have on those Azoo set ups. I think JBJ sells a pendant PC set up but at least 4 folks I know don't like that company.
If you like A&H(I do), you can make your own little stand up legs from wood.
Make your 5 sided box for the lights and attach 2 legs with a block on each leg to support the light against the top of the tank's rim.
I use 1/4" popular wood from Home Depot etc and put the light "guts" in these. Works great, paint it the color to suit and it looks great.
My other tank is MH and another uses Azoo 13w clip on lights for some smaller cube tanks I have. All my tanks are open top.
Regards,
Tom Barr
You can also raise up a Powercompact set up like the the little legs they have on those Azoo set ups. I think JBJ sells a pendant PC set up but at least 4 folks I know don't like that company.
If you like A&H(I do), you can make your own little stand up legs from wood.
Make your 5 sided box for the lights and attach 2 legs with a block on each leg to support the light against the top of the tank's rim.
I use 1/4" popular wood from Home Depot etc and put the light "guts" in these. Works great, paint it the color to suit and it looks great.
My other tank is MH and another uses Azoo 13w clip on lights for some smaller cube tanks I have. All my tanks are open top.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Last week we tore down our setup to redo the substrate. I had read about using a rubbermade tub as a temp. aquarium so I figured I would give it a try. I had one of the deep tubs filled less than 1/2 way to the top with the AC300 filter hanging on the side. I came back an hour later and there was one of my wife's beloved platys well shrivelled up un the floor about 18" away from the bin. The poor sucker would have had to have had a 18" vert to clear the sides of the tub unless he swam up the filter out flow but I doubt that since the waterflow twisted (inverted) half way through its fall.
I'm not encouraged by what many of you are saying. I don't want any of my little guys committing suicide on me.
Len
Len
In the past I've had metal halides on my reef tanks and used "eggcrate" as a cover to maximize the light and keep the heat down to a minimum. That's the plastic panels with an "open squares" that are used to cover up ceiling light fixtures. It cuts down on fish jumping out, depending on the size of the openings. They can be cut to fit your tank and are pretty cheap at Home Depot or other home improvement stores.
HTH
Tracy
HTH
Tracy
Can't take credit for the idea Reefers have been using the stuff for years 
I dunno about painting them-I would worry about it flaking off under the lights/heat and into the tank no matter what type of paint you used. The halides I had would fry an egg...
The eggcrate stuff I used wasn't that thick and when cut to size fit right down into the plastic lip around the top of my tank-like an all glass cover. You never saw it until you leaned over. Cut mine into 2 sections so I could maintain the filters and not have to lift the whole thing out. You could DYI a frame of sorts that would hide it if it showed over the top of the tank.
Good Luck,
Tracy
I dunno about painting them-I would worry about it flaking off under the lights/heat and into the tank no matter what type of paint you used. The halides I had would fry an egg...The eggcrate stuff I used wasn't that thick and when cut to size fit right down into the plastic lip around the top of my tank-like an all glass cover. You never saw it until you leaned over. Cut mine into 2 sections so I could maintain the filters and not have to lift the whole thing out. You could DYI a frame of sorts that would hide it if it showed over the top of the tank.
Good Luck,
Tracy
