Covering your tank to prevent jumpers.

[CHILL]

I just got my first fish - a Mystery Wrasse. And of course I have some questions for all you who keep wrasses in your reefs. What did you use to cover your tanks to keep these fish in as they are notorious carpet surfers?

I stopped out at Home Depot and picked up some of the plastic lighting eggcrate to use as a cover, but now the fans in the hood do not cool the water like they did before (I have an acrylic tank, so by leaving the access covers off and blowing 2 fans across the openings I was keeping temps down to 81 - with the eggcrate on it jumped up th 83.5 yesterday) probably due to the fans no longer directly blowing across the surface of the water. I will try adding another fan in the stand blowing over the sump to try and off set the heat, but that would make 7 (yes 7) total fans on a system that is in my basement - median temp 65.

I guess I was hoping for some other ideas for preventing jumpers from getting out of the tank that will also allow me to keep the temp down with somewhat ease.

Thanks
Chris

 

[liquid]

How is your lighting hood configured? Is it a hanging pendant?

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

It all depends on the type of top your tank has, and how big the fish are that you want to prevent from jumping.

If you have a completly open top tank, and you want to prevent jumpers, most people do cover the whole top with something like eggcrate. Of course this does get hot with lighting on top of it, so that is one problem. I have often wondered if making a barrier of 6 inch wide decorative molding (like for house trim or something that would match your stand) and setting this on the top rim of the tank would stop many jumpers, like a fish fence.

Anyway, I have a canopy on my tank that covers three sides, it is open in the back. I got a roll of plastic gutter guard and stretched that across the back of the canopy and used a staple gun to secure it. I like the gutter guard because it has smaller holes that eggcrate, and because it is flexible, it is easier to accomodate things like power head wires. It is also very easy to cut.

 

[CHILL]

Thanks for the quick replies.

The tank has a custom acrylic hood made extra high to house the lights. The lights are 3 x 175w MH + 2 x 160w VHO Actinic, and are mounted inside the hood. There are 4 inch fans at each end (1 blowing in, 1 out) and the hood is open in the back. The tank is acrylic and therfore enclosed on top (except for the access doors). I believe the heat difference is due to the air movement not getting through the 1/2 inch eggcrate to the waters surface and then not generating the same evaporation that had previously cooled the tank.

I like the idea of gutter guard, the gaps are smaller and the material is thinner.

I'll try anything at this point.

Thanks
Chris

 

[liquid]

So if I understand right, the only place a fish can jump out is at the back of the hood, correct? If so, just place the eggcrate at the back of the hood covering the opening.

Shane

 

[disom]

On side note, I had been attempting to catch a rogue green chromis for weeks. I wanted to put him in another tank with other chromis I had. Finally luck smiled on me and the chromis did some carpet surfing. I was able to get him back in the other tank without long term damage.