Open or closed tops

[Canadian Man]

Dez,
I Dont reccomend having a glass top as most people will probably tell you as well.
I did this for the first 2 months of my adventure in my hobby and there is no good to come out of it.

When I construct my hoods, If there is any expossed screws I take a little bit of silicone and cover the screws. If you need to get at the screws the silicone easily squishes when you put the screwdrive on the head.

cheers

[Old Guy]

I got tired of picking dried fish off the floor so I put a glass top on 5 years ago. I personally have had no problems.

If your sump is uncovered for gas exchange I can not see a problem.

It will cut down on evaporation which for me was a good thing.

Jeff

[Doug]

I to run glass tops on mine. Unless you need the evaporation for kalk or cooling. I do have then off right now because of the heat, but will replace them asap.

I dont require 5 gals of evaporation water in my house every day. I also have seen to many fish jump.

I have no hood and run pendants though, so that should be taken into consideration. Even though the glass blocks limited uv, I am hoping it blocks enough to protect the corals.

Cleaning them is easy compared to all the other problems I have encountered. I also make sure I use enough light to overcome and small percentage being blocked by the glass.

[Delphinus]

I guess it's a matter of taste then. I'm with Jonathan. Why block part of the light you're giving to your corals when you're paying so much on electricity anyways? If I pay $30 per month per bulb then I darn well want as much of that $30 getting to where it can be used.

Plus the hassle of cleaning salt creep of the glass, plus the hassle of trying to maneuver your hands through a maze whenever you need to get your hands in the tank, plus the reduced evaporation, plus the risk of breaking the glass and having it fall into the tank ....

I also dab silicone over my exposed metal screws. Works like a charm, and easy enough to deal with it you need to remove the screw for whatever reason.

As for fish jumping ...... if you're still using a canopy then you can block off the potential holes with window screening or eggcrate or cotton balls or something ...

That's what works for me .... in the end whatever floats your boat is gonna float your boat ... it's all good.

[Dez]

Just a question... How many of you are running your tanks with an open top without glass lids? I'm doing that right now but am thinking of building a new hood and add glass tops. The screws and stuff in my current hood are totally corroding and there's just so much salt creep with the open hood design. I know that glass tops cut down the lighting intensity, but I think I'd rather wipe the glass tops every week, than to have my fans etc slowly waste away. Any thoughts? My tank has a 48L x 24W x 30H footprint (150 Gallon with 75 gallon sump/refugium).

Thanks

Des

[Doug]

Your correct Tony. Whatever floats your boat. :D

If I had a hood, I would likely not run covers. But it depends on ones thought on UV & the corals.
http://www.aquarium-design/reef/uvlighting.html

I also use a lense in my pendants or a piece of glass, to filter some of the uv from my arms when working in the tank. My fair Irish skin needs protection. :D

[Dez]

Tony and Jonathan, How often are you cleaning your bulbs from salt creep/evaporation etc though? With my current set-up, if I build a hood, it'll be too hard for me to take the hood off by myself to clean it. Hmmm... I don't know what to do..

des... thanks for the comments

[AJ_77]

Dez, the hood needs to have the front part hinged so you can get inside. Many available designs feature this. Take a look at Jamie's web page (http://members.shaw.ca/jcross1/system.htm) for a good example of this construction.

The front part of mine opens this way, and is deep enough to have my actinics in there. Perhaps the front third of the hood flips up.

HTH,

Alan

[ 28 July 2002, 18:19: Message edited by: AJ_77 ]

[Dez]

Alan, I do have plans to hinge my hood, however, you can never get a really good cleaning and stuff unless you hinge the entire hood so that all the lights come up, then that would be easy to clean. However, my tank is too tall to just have the top hinged. I need it something like Jamie's, but then it'll be difficult to change the lights and clean....so I'm thinking about glass tops..

Thanks...

How's your green water?

Des