Lids on tanks????

[supersmile]

What is your opinion about having a lid on your tank? I have had a few people say for sure get a lid because fish jump. Others have said a lid mucks up with the temp of your water and isn't good. As well some people say they haven't had a lid on their tank and nothing ever jumps out. I am a bit confused on what to do. I heard of people using that plastic stuff that you can get from Rona etc that comes in a plastic sheet and it is composed of little squares which enables the water temp to regulate?????

[christyf5]

Really it depends on what type of fish you're keeping, some fish are notorious jumpers (ie. firefish, some wrasses, anthias). Others are fine. It all depends on whether you want to risk it or not. The stuff you're talking about is called eggcrate. It is helpful to keep fish in but for smaller fish, sometimes they keep at it until they make it through that hole. Believe me, sometimes, if there is a hole to get through, fish will find it. They're smrt that way :rolleyes: :razz:

[scuglass]

i have a glass lid on the disply tank but no lid on the sump... i notioce when i take the glass off the display there is a big increase in evaporation. my purple pseudocromis jumped and got wedged in a small crack between the tank and lid... so even thats not fool proof.

[ponokareefer]

The LFS I bought my set current set up from didn't recommend a lid because it wouldn't let all of your light through, especially if the glass gets at all dirty. Has anyone seen how high the fish jump over the glass? I have a pretty high canopy(top of the tank cover) and was thinking that they might not be able to get over it, so would hit it and fall back in the tank.

[Beverly]

We have glass over the middle part on our sumpless 120g. The back and front is covered in eggcrate. I can't count the number of times we've looked at the glass covered and wondered why it was all splashed up. Then I remembered the reason we covered it completely was to prevent our fairy wrasse from jumping out. He's been with us for almost two years now :)

Also, we clean the glass during weekly maintenance so it doesn't get dirty.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Don't kid yourself, fish can jump very high and if there is enough room for air to get through a fish will find it if they really want to. Fish jump for different reasons, some get spooked, some are bullied, some just jump because it's fun to fly, it's the landing part that ruins the fun.
Egg crate is easy to cut up, it's not expensive unless you go to the chrome stuff and then it's very expensive.

Doug

[justinl]

where do you find egg crate anyways? Home depot? how much is it?

[BCOrchidGuy]

White stuff is under $9 for a 2x4 foot sheet, chrome is about $50 for the same size sheet and yes Home Depot, Rona etc...

Doug

[fortheloveofcrabs]

Just a question, does anyone use window screening over their tanks as jump protection?

[fortheloveofcrabs]

no thoughts??

[BlueNWhite]

I think a glass lid will affect the oxygen turnover in your tank which is not a good thing. I would suggest you do the egg crate thing since it allows for oxygen to circulate. It can be purchased at your hardware store.

[fortheloveofcrabs]

Maybe I wan't clear. Not glass, window screen - just the mesh part. It will still allow for air flow and a fish will certainly not be able to jump though it. Just wonding if anyone has used this instead of egg crate...

[michika]

I have, and it sucked. Over time it stretches out, and is hard to keep its shape. It keeps a lot of light out, and I found that eggcrate was an improvement over mesh screen.

[hawk]

I've always used eggcrate but it is not perfect over the last few months I've had anthias jump through 4 times. Two lived and two died.

[supersmile]

I just got a custom glass top cut and I have noticed no change in temp. I do have the back open where the pump etc is so heat can escape and oxygen can flow. So far so good. I don't have any complaints!