I am adding the watchman goby back to my tank soon and want to cover my tank so that he doesn't jump out. I have halides, a lot of coral and clams so I don't want to have any shading going on. Also, I don't want to use acrylic or glass in order to keep the temp of the water down. What is the best method to use for this? I have heard that deer netting works well but am worried that it might not be fine enough?
How do I cover my reef tank?
- Thread starter Sea Turtle
- Start date
Interested in any answers to this as well. A glass cover is the way I was thinking of going with my next tank, but was worried about gas exchange via the surface movement and salt creep on the cover affecting light penetration.
Solutions that look good would be best!
Solutions that look good would be best!
Although we have a lot of eggcrate covers here, I'm not a big fan of them with certain fish. I've had fish jump up and cut their snouts on the eggcrate, and I've had smaller fish jump right through the holes, and then of course there are the cases where the fish jumps and gets stuck in one of the holes!
I like the "jump board" idea like on the tank with the eel in it - we use similar setups whenever we can.
Jay
I like the "jump board" idea like on the tank with the eel in it - we use similar setups whenever we can.
Jay
Good call Jay. I also will cut my own hands on eggcrate if I handle it quickly and carelessly enough...
Tom, the white "worm" is a ghost ribbon eel in the late Greg Schiemer's tank. The latin name is either Pseudechidna brummeri or Uropterygius concolor. They are very cool eels and relatively easy to keep. In fact I just oredered one for one of our exhibits!
Tom, the white "worm" is a ghost ribbon eel in the late Greg Schiemer's tank. The latin name is either Pseudechidna brummeri or Uropterygius concolor. They are very cool eels and relatively easy to keep. In fact I just oredered one for one of our exhibits!
Sea Turtle":2jnljh61 said:Yes. This is just what I was thinking. I think that the deer neting can be very expensive though. Anyway, does the heat from the halides melt this stuff?Gman0526":2jnljh61 said:All in the link
That was my concern as well, the heat. On another board I saw a post where someone made a cover out of plastic screen of some type. He had a light fixture that had those short support legs so it rested on the tank rim. That put it too close and his netting melted. Made a helluva mess, dripped into the tank water. Granted, I think he used a type of plastic window screen but the end result was a disaster, FWIW. Maybe with a pendant it would be just fine.
Some fish can shoot through standard egg crate too. I had a wheeler's prawn goby shoot right in between to his doom and had jawfish make a serious attempt at it. If you are keeping smaller gobies or blennies you may want to try an even smaller mesh size if possible.
Jawfish have unreal aim - from what I've seen if they can physically fit through a hole in any way they can jump through it.
Jawfish have unreal aim - from what I've seen if they can physically fit through a hole in any way they can jump through it.
Ok, I did it. I used deer neting and screen framing with the sline. Worked great!! I'll try to get some pics up soon. Only problem is I put the watchman goby in there and he will not stay in the tank. He goes right into the overflow. So, I filled that will balls of deer neting. It worked but he was not digging the tank. I thought he was going to die. So, he is back in the QT. Also, I removed the sand sifting goby. The zoas are opening up again.
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