Tank cover or not

[Chin_Lee]

I've read a trend on this forum before regarding the use of glass tank cover in the past but my search is not coming up with right one. The majority of the reef tanks i've seen have an open top with the lights about 6-8 inches above the water. But I also remembered people who were using glass covers and reported no problems. So my questions are:

1) what are your thoughts about a glass cover with the lights about 3-5 inches above the glass with good air vents and circulation in the hood to dissipate the heat?

2) For air exchange, would a beckett skimmer attached to a 1800gph pump provide plenty of oxigination?

3) Will it affect the coral growth? (3x250w on a 6x2x2 tank)

Any advice?
CWLee

[BCOrchidGuy]

CW, for what it's worth, I don't like covers, I find they trap alot of heat, and they get dirty really quick. It doesn't take much at all to get them covered in crud, that surely must reduce the amount of light that gets through to the tank. I believe the benifit of the cover is to slow evaporation and to keep things from falling in. I take care of evaporation with an auto fresh water top off. I learned along time ago, don't put stuff over an aquarium if you don't want it to go in (other than lights WHICH are always secured of course).
Anyway that's my two cents worth.

Doug

[Aquattro]

I think you risk the chance of cracking the glass if your lights are that close. I also think you'll get tired of cleaning the glass after the first week. No point spending a ton of money on bright lights and then blocking them out with glass. You'll need to evaporate water to cool the tank, and a lid will prevent that. Air exchange isn't an issue really unless you have a rubber gasket on the lid.
Overall, my opinion is a lid has no place on a reef tank. You're just fighting yourself and making things more difficult than need be. I really can't think of a reasn to have a lid at all. JMO

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by reef_raf

I think you risk the chance of cracking the glass if your lights are that close. I also think you'll get tired of cleaning the glass after the first week. No point spending a ton of money on bright lights and then blocking them out with glass. You'll need to evaporate water to cool the tank, and a lid will prevent that. Air exchange isn't an issue really unless you have a rubber gasket on the lid.
Overall, my opinion is a lid has no place on a reef tank. You're just fighting yourself and making things more difficult than need be. I really can't think of a reasn to have a lid at all. JMO

ya, what he said

Steve

[apepper]

What do you do to keep your fish from becoming flying fish, or does your light hood cover the tank well enough to keep them in?

[Nemain]

egg crate =)

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by apepper

What do you do to keep your fish from becoming flying fish, or does your light hood cover the tank well enough to keep them in?

I pick fish that don't jump. The one wrasse I had cooked itself on the center brace. Most fish though, are not jumpers.

Ideally your canopy would cover all four sides of your tank, preventing jumpers. Sometimes the jump out anyway. A lid still blocks light from hitting your reef. Which is bad.

[tkhawaja]

I use a glass lid due to necessity. I don't have a canopy as my eventual goal is to do pendant lights from the roof, they just look better. (that's gonna take a year of saving up) I have no problem investing some time every month or so cleaning the glass. My PC lights sit a few inches above the glass top to vent for heat. I've never had it any other way so I dont know how the evaporation would vary but from a 100G + 47G sump I get .5G evaporation every day.

[Chin_Lee]

tkhawaja
what do you keep in your tank?

[tkhawaja]

Hmm, I should have stated what I kept. Right now, it's mostly whatever came with the rocks. Lots of macro algae, snails, feather duster worms. I have a few scarlet crabs in there as well. Some corals which I have no idea what they are. I also have an Emerald crab, which I rarely see out in the open. No fish in there yet, and not for a while.