Do you have a top on your tank?

[cklayko2000]

I'm curious, how many of you have some sort of top over your reef tank? I currently do not have one however have been thinking about getting one because the last 2 carpenter wrasses have abandoned ship on me. For those of you that do have a top, is it just a thin sheet of acrylic? Does it absorb alot of the light?

 

[trido]

I dont have a top on my tank but havent had any jumpers ever since I built a fish fence out of gutter guard.

 

[camaroracer214]

no top on my reef, but my nano-cube has one. i had a firefish jump out once, but luckily i was there when it happened and was able to put it back in. but that's the only time it happened. fish is fine and happy.

 

[Lorraine Vavra]

Yes, I have a top. My firefish are real jumpers and even jump when I am cleaning the tank.. I just moved them from a 30 into a 70 and even with 4 inches of dusty water on the bottom, I thought one was gone. It turned completely sand colored and with no orange color in order to hide and laid so still. Amazing. They will love the 70.
Lorraine
PS
I wish I could get pictures out of Photoshop starter album and onto this website. I can email them to myself or others but not go into the Photoshop from here. Any advice? Thanks.

 

[ChrisRD]

In the past I've run some of my tanks long term (years) with no top and not had problems, but it's a crap shoot if you have fish in there. This past year I lost two fish in my 180 FOWLR running that way. Unfortunately they were two of my favorites - the Harlequin Tusk and the Flame Angel - both very healthy and colorful.

I think from now on I will at least put some eggcrate over any tank that contains fish as I hate losing perfectly healthy animals. I guess it's about time I finish the canopy for the 180...

 

[mr_X]

if i put a top on my tank, i'll save on R.O.D.I. filter replacements, but i'll have to purchase a chiller.
in other words, my evap will decrease, but the temp in my tank will rise. and i don't even know about gas exchange.

Lorraine, save them as jpegs. if you are not sure how to do it, email them to me, i'll convert them and send them back to you.

 

[ChrisRD]

IME having a top doesn't necessarily have to mean more heat / less evap. A well ventilated canopy with active air flow (ie. fans) can work fine in many cases.

 

[mr_X]

IME having a top doesn't necessarily have to mean more heat / less evap. A well ventilated canopy with active air flow (ie. fans) can work fine in many cases.

i know on my 75 gallon tank it did. i removed the glass tops and my evap quadrupled, and my tank got cooler.
we're not talking about a canopy, are we?
i am under the impression we are talking about glass tops.

 

[ChrisRD]

Sorry, maybe I misunderstood. Cklayko mentioned "some sort of top" in the first post, so I was assuming we were talking about any top/canopy/etc...

I agree about the full glass/acrylic tops for sure - they restrict air flow too much for most reefing applications. Eggcrate/light diffuser works pretty well as an alternative - helps keep fish in while still letting the tank breath.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a canopy. My next top will be open top, but It will have a net top.

One of the women in my local club has been building them. I'm going to get the netting from her.

B

 

[Anonymous]

Eggcrate always worked well for me. Easy to cut to size, subtle and no appreciable loss of light. Of course, it won't work on those spiffy rimless tanks.

 

[Anonymous]

PS
I wish I could get pictures out of Photoshop starter album and onto this website. I can email them to myself or others but not go into the Photoshop from here. Any advice? Thanks.

Just be sure they're converted to an allowed attachment and you should be able to attach (there are, of course, size limits). I'd suggest Irfanview, but what for if you already have PhotoShop? Size them to no larger than 600x400 pixels for posting, unless they're REALLY good, then some of us might nick 'em for wallpaper. However, if that's the case, then we'd like .tif, .raw, or .bmp files. :twisted:

Oh yeah, if you don't wish to attach, then get yourself a free Photobucket account. Only problem is that, just like RDO, PhotoBucket only accepts certain attachments (will not, for instance, take .tif, .crw, or .raw photo formats). However, using that then you don't use up RDO's bandwidth and can link directly using the bbcode image tags.

 

[cklayko2000]

I like the idea of netting, less light diffusion and still keeps the jumpers in the tank. anyone else use netting?

 

[extremepb319]

I have a glass top on my tank with just enough room for filters and cords on the back. I dont really have heat issues with it either, probably because im just using t5's. But thats what i had and it works well, only thing to jump(crawl) out of my tank was a turbo snail.

 

[trido]

, only thing to jump(crawl) out of my tank was a turbo snail.

:lol: Wow! that must have been some pretty nasty water for a snail to want out. :lol:

That net top is a pretty darned neat idea.

 

[brandonberry]

Yeah, I'm going to have to make one of those net tops. I lost a firefish a few weeks ago and I have to put about 5 nerites back in the tank every day or so. Hey Bingo, is that just pond netting like people use to cover their koi ponds in the winter? If so, it can be purchased here:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... t=net&Np=1

 

[extremepb319]

Haha yea it was a little nasty because I had just got done rearranging my tank and stirring up my sand bed a little. FYI snails smell really bad after sitting by your stand for about a week...

And those net tops look really good i might want to get one...

 

[dadstank]

there is a top on the tank, but the top is an open-top. does that count?

 

[snapper1]

I just lost a Beautiful full Grown Clarki Clown 4 Days ago he did a swan Dive out of my Tank .I might buy something with some kind of Wire mesh to stop this.