POLL: To cover or not to cover?

[monkeyboy]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

* clean glass only absorbs about 10% of the light passing through it, so loss of light should not be a concern.

Depending on how much light is on the tank, 10% could be considered signifigant. Even with the 1020w over my 120, 10% is 102w gone that i'm paying for every month! I keep the my tank completely uncovered, I've had 1 fish jump a while back but that's not cause to seal up the entire top of the aquarium, reducing gas exchange and light. Just IMO, HTH, FWIW, blah blah blah...

 

[Spikehs]

i was thinking of removing my glass cover but are unsure about it for a few reasons, maybe u guys could give me a hand.

1. I dont have an RO machine, i go buy it locally, so having lots of evap would be a major pain in the a$$

2. the evap would eventually find its way to the bulbs/sockets of my metal halides, wouldn't this be VERY deterimintal to them (ie rusting, and salt on the bulbs?)

3. the dust thing as well, pretty dry here in calgary.

thanks for your opinions.

Sean

 

[fishfarmer]

After losing a couple of fish to jumping, one being a very pretty true perc, I'm going with a covered tank when I upgrade my tank. I may or may not have a glass between the bulbs, haven't decided. I have a sump and skimmer so I'm not worried about gas exchange.

 

[AuroraDave]

My canopy keeps in the jumpers. But I dont use glass or any other covers. The MH's generate toooo much heat.

 

[Carpentersreef]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Spikehs:
<strong>i was thinking of removing my glass cover but are unsure about it for a few reasons, maybe u guys could give me a hand.

1. I dont have an RO machine, i go buy it locally, so having lots of evap would be a major pain in the a$$

2. the evap would eventually find its way to the bulbs/sockets of my metal halides, wouldn't this be VERY deterimintal to them (ie rusting, and salt on the bulbs?)

3. the dust thing as well, pretty dry here in calgary.

thanks for your opinions.

Sean</strong><hr></blockquote>

Hi Sean,

1 Can't do much about the evap issue, what about getting it delivered to your home from a drinking water company? How much do you think you would lose/day?

2 As long as you have good air circulation around your lighting set-up, the rusting won't be a problem, and any salt corrosion will only be a result of splashing water, as the salt of course won't evaporate. How high is your lighting set-up over the water?

3 I keep the windows open above my sump and main tank to cool my system, and the dust hasn't been an issue for me.

Mitch

 

[dukecola]

I would cover to keep jumpers from jumping in!
Funny but sad story, my cat use to sleep on top of the canopy because it was nice and warm up there. Well, one day I had the canopy off and wouldn't you know it when I wasn't looking the cat leaped up and to his suprise he went for a nice swim. After the cannonball splash subsided, the cat managed to crawl out flinging water all over the place. At first, I thought it was funny, but then I realized that I had given the cat a heavy flea dust treatment the day before. (Damn Texas Fles) Quickly, I tried to remove the fish and get them into my quarantine tank but it was too late, the poison acted quickly and within 1/2 hour ALL the fish were dead. I would say $300-400 worth. Luckily the corals/inverts were not effected.

Anyway, my NEW cat sleeps on top of the eggcrate cover on my micro, but I do have the lighting fixture covering the opening of the tank. Plus, no more flea powder allowed in the house.

There is a valid point to keeping a cover on and that is keeping manmade contaminants out of the tank. Flea powder is just one example, but hairspray, lemon pledge, airborne grease (and sometimes smoke when my wife cooks)from the stove, aerosols, etc, can and do get into an open top tank. If you are not doing water changes often, they could build up to dangerous levels over time. These contaminents can also be sucked in by air pumps so make sure you change the air prefilters on them occasionally.

R/Duke

 

[NasotheHutt]

Mine is topless. Better cooling, no salt creep build up on the top.

 

[Spikehs]

Hey, well i dont have my lights on their right now...i will be putting 3 175 10k bulbs on their real soon though. its my first time i have had metal halides so i would have no idea how much i would lose to evap. Well if the dust isn't an issue for you, then i guess it wont be for me

...i guess i'll have to wait andd see what the evap is like. oh yah, the lights will be 8+ inches from the water...

 

[IBJJ]

no cover...i always like to see topless

 

[DK]

My jumpers jumped. So I leave open my 90&94 reef tank and cover the FOWLR 55. The open tanks allow me to fun fans over the surface to control the temperature in the summer - very effective.

 

[rrichpeters]

Well I'm new to this,(won't even have a tank for some time yet), but why couldn't you "extend" the top of the tank with a short(6" - 8") wall...like the sides of a canopy without the top. And then hang the seperate canopy above that with a space between the two to let the air and oxygen in. But while still providing a wall for the jumpers to have to clear? Kind of like the Berlin wall? ...Not to be confused with a Berlin reef.
(Sorry, it was too obvious, so I had to say it...I know it was bad.)
Rich

 

[fishfarmer]

Novel idea richp. That would be great for hanging pendants if you didn't want to see the glare.

 

[64Ivy]

Like many others in this thread, I keep my tank uncovered for evaporation but with eggcrate to help keep the jumpers in. I've read that eggcrate reduces light by an average of 10% so I added Spiderlight reflectors above my MHs.