Glass top or No glass top?
 

I am considering putting on a glass top on my aquraium, i am just curious as to people's thoughts on this. I know i have read things about how this is a bad idea and should not be done.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Glass keeps in heat, and gets dirty really fast, blocking light. I wouldn't use it. If you need to keep things in or out, try a canopy, or some type of screening to cover it (that doesn't block light)

I used glass and found that I was constantly cleaning them of salt buildup. I switched to egggrate and am satifyed

The question is, why do you want to do this? Is there a particular problem you are trying to solve? Keeping fish in? Keeping evaporation down? A glass top as you've already read is not typically a good idea for the reasons already mentioned. Also, the glass top will tend to trap harmful gasses that need to escape your tank.

If you are trying to keep fish in, a screen top is the best solution in my experience. Not very expensive, easy to DIY and doesn't block much light.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...i/IMG_4734.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...i/IMG_4732.jpg

Eggcrate will work too but egg crate will tend to block incident light rays from your light fixture thus reducing the amount of light.

It's mostly to try to keep down the amount of evaporation. I have had a fish go carpet surfing on me as well.....but i think that may also been helped by an unwated mantis shrimp that hitchhiked into my tank (but is gone now)

unfortunately evaporation is a necessary evil that we all face in this hobby :sad:

well, evil for us as maintainers but actually a very good thing for the tank. Do you have an auto top off? If not, you should getting one. That'll make life a lot easier.

I have the same thing as Kien. Works well, and doesn't block as much light as egg crate.

What type of screen is that? Looks to be about 1/4" mesh, and some sort of plastic I'd assume?

Yup, 1/4" clear netting.

Without hijacking the thread..............I was wondering about trapped gases and oxygen exchange. I built a large canopy with a couple of small vents in the top. Will the evaporation inside the canopy still be trapping said gases? And I really don't want to fry a $600 T5HO light either.

Thanks everyone for your inputs.

I think i will go with Kien's suggestion of the wire mesh. Now to build a frame for it :biggrin:

Thread can be all yours Leon :mrgreen:

The vents will certainly help but hard to say for certain without knowing how big those small vents are :-) Are we talking tiny small, small small, medium small or big small? :lol:

mesh top frame :-)

It sounds like regular small to me. Leon, maybe post this with pics over in your build journal. Great looking stand, BTW(we should stop jacking this thread, eh?)

I consider them to be small small :biggrin: as they are only slots in the top in a 6" long pattern.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...h_HPIM2197.jpg

I'd maybe add a fan under the slots to help pull heat out.