UV Light Good/Bad

[amoreira]

In the summer, evaporation cools your tank. This means lower cost for chillers etc.. I run fans in the summer that blow air over the top of my aquarium and that meets all my cooling needs at a fraction of the energy consumption from a chiller.

You can buy clear mesh screening to prevent your fish from committing suicide:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/...ing-7-x-3.html

There is a video instruction in BRS on how to make a screen top for your tank.

[freakshow]

A good canopy will excellent ventilation and fans will keep fish from jumping out and the lights can be installed inside of the canopy. I never cover any of my tanks with glass.

[Harpo]

Does the plastic shield covering my bulbs on my hood reduce the UV light? Will there be any harm that my bulbs will explode or weaken due to salt evap.? I don't have glass covering my tank.

[Lysa.anne]

Originally Posted by Zarstar

Hello I'm a new member, (sounds like AA) i have a question to pose to the reefer community: Is Ultra Violet light beneficial to my tank? Here is my rational behind the question:

1) Silica Glass (most glass) does not transmit UV light (or very little), hence you cannot get a suntan indoors.

2) the amount of UV light at the equator, most coral reefs, is about 1000X higher than at the north pole (the south pole has a man made ozone layer hole)

3) My Maxspect G2 LED's produce a focused yet wide array of light wavelengths that include the UV -A,B,C as well as visible.

4) If i take my glass lid off the tank it will evaporate more and i risk losing fish to Tank Jump Suicide.

So fellow reefers what should i do? take the cover off and give full reign to my overpriced LED's or continue down this path of salt creep and a UVless tank?

PS Dont buy G2's they have no controller or dimmer, I thought in this day and age that would be standard, apparently not in China.

I use a glass top as I have a suicidal cleaner wrasse. We also lost a lot of water to evaporation without it.
I'm open to going without though, as it would mean less cleaning off salt from the glass.

[aquajeep]

my glass top broke.only difference i have noticed is lots of evaporation so now i have to fill my top up bucket every 3 days instead of 5-6 days.gay balls! i like it better with glass top personally because of this but will run without until the day comes and i can afford my starfire cube ;-)

[DisneyCoralReef]

That is a good question. When I was sold the tank, I was sold a glass cover, which bothers me because it looks like it may not be needed-wasted money. Gah! Great thread, lots of information.

[parkinsn]

Originally Posted by DisneyCoralReef

That is a good question. When I was sold the tank, I was sold a glass cover, which bothers me because it looks like it may not be needed-wasted money. Gah! Great thread, lots of information.

Have a look here. I would drop the glass lid.

http://reeftools.com/nn/how-to-build...or-your-tank/#

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=74674