Tank Coverings?

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by sleschwin

What plastic/acrylic/plexi passes the most light& U.V.? Anyone know which type is best suited for a tank cover? Were losing water like crazy, didn't really wanna do it but mabey it'll help!

The most transparent material to most wavelengths of light and UV is quartz. You can get quartz glass for not much more that regular glass. POlycarbonate and acrylic absorb UV and can begin to yellow with time. However, I must echo the comments above about covering your tank. If you are loosing water like crazy it would be WAAAAAAAAY cheap building yourself an ATO. You could build one for about $20 to $100 depending on how resourceful and crafty you are.

[MMAX]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

The most transparent material to most wavelengths of light and UV is quartz. You can get quartz glass for not much more that regular glass. POlycarbonate and acrylic absorb UV and can begin to yellow with time. However, I must echo the comments above about covering your tank. If you are loosing water like crazy it would be WAAAAAAAAY cheap building yourself an ATO. You could build one for about $20 to $100 depending on how resourceful and crafty you are.

Don't mean to hijack Sleschwin but any info on building one of these Steve?

[ScubaSteve]

Yup, tons of info on DIY ATOs.

http://www.autotopoff.com/
http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/auto_topoff.html

Use the ol' Googletron to find a lot more. For the love god, please be careful when using line voltages when you if you want to make one. And remember: You + Aquarium/Water + Electricity = Extra Crispy.

[Chin_Lee]

If you have a skimmer, it should be more than enough for oxygen exchange. One pass of water through the skimmer has more gas exchange than you will ever get through the open top of your tank.
However it doesn't address the evaporation/cooling advantage so it depends on your tank. If you have T5 or VHO or even 150de hqi over your tank, i wouldn't be too concern about keeping the tank cool. But I found a big difference when I went up to 250W dehqi bulbs that it heated up my tank considerably.

[AquaticFinatic]

Empty your mail box there sleschwin ;

[mrhasan]

I used a glass top on my 20long with 3/4 closed and the rest of 1/4 open (at the back for the filters) and I have to do top-offs with few cups of fresh water every 2nd night.