Hi everyone,
The following is a step by set how-to for making a screen lid for those of us with open top tanks. I have always liked open top tanks with hanging lights for ease of maintenance, but of course, the downside is that certain species of fish, wrasses come to mind, can jump out of the tank because they don't have the safety a canopy provides.
I have several Hawiian Flame Wrasses, and the reason I made my screen cover was for them. I had been meaning to make on for several weeks, but had not gotten around to it yet.
I'd like to thank rostato for the pic of his cover in his recent thread about jumping fish. That finally got me to go buy the materials and make mine.
So here is how to do it:
Pic 1: Shot of my AGA 210 gallon reef with open top and pendant halides. You can see the carpet surfing potential there.
Pic 2: Materials needed. For anyone that has installed or replaced screening this is a no-brainer. Buy everything at Lowes. You need the appropriate length of 5/16" screen frame, plastic screen corners, plastic screen corner pieces, .140" screening spline, and spline installation tool. You also need Bird Netting, which is used to place over bushes to keep birds from eating berries. All materials except the Bird Netting are available in the Lowes area where they sell doors and windows and glass pieces. The Bird Netting is available in the Outside Gardening section where you would find Weed Block material. Total materials cost to do my 210 was about $25.
Pic 3: This is a small square of the Bird Netting that is the actual screening material you will use. The squares are about 1/2" on a side. I used three layers of screen on mine.
Pic 4: These are the 4 sections of channel I cut for each of the three openings I made a cover for. Use the instructions on the plastic corner pieces for proper measurements. I used a hacksaw and a miter box. The pieces are simple butt end cuts. The plastic corner pieces are really handy. I determined total length of the inside lip of each section of the 210, then subtracted 1/8" so each cover would go on and off easily.
Pic 5: The corner plastic pieces slide into the channel frame. Nearly idiot proof, as they only go in one way.
Pic 6: Picture of the finished frame assembly.
Pic 7: Pic of the back of the frame. I have 4 Tunze 6105 pumps for circulation, so I used a dremel to edge out an opening on the back of each frame to allow the power cords to pass. You may or may not need to do this depending on your setup. The frame piece is still strong, even after removing that much material.
Pic 8: This is where I wrap the frame in the bird Netting until I have three layers of screen over the spline channel side of the cover. I found this Bird Netting a bit hard to work with, as it is VERY thin. The roll is 14 feet x 30 feet, so I cut a section about 30" wide x 14 feet, then just wrapped the frame in the screen. This made it easier to keep constant tension on the Netting and not have it bunch up.
Next post will finish up. Reached my Picture limit here.
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The following is a step by set how-to for making a screen lid for those of us with open top tanks. I have always liked open top tanks with hanging lights for ease of maintenance, but of course, the downside is that certain species of fish, wrasses come to mind, can jump out of the tank because they don't have the safety a canopy provides.
I have several Hawiian Flame Wrasses, and the reason I made my screen cover was for them. I had been meaning to make on for several weeks, but had not gotten around to it yet.
I'd like to thank rostato for the pic of his cover in his recent thread about jumping fish. That finally got me to go buy the materials and make mine.
So here is how to do it:
Pic 1: Shot of my AGA 210 gallon reef with open top and pendant halides. You can see the carpet surfing potential there.
Pic 2: Materials needed. For anyone that has installed or replaced screening this is a no-brainer. Buy everything at Lowes. You need the appropriate length of 5/16" screen frame, plastic screen corners, plastic screen corner pieces, .140" screening spline, and spline installation tool. You also need Bird Netting, which is used to place over bushes to keep birds from eating berries. All materials except the Bird Netting are available in the Lowes area where they sell doors and windows and glass pieces. The Bird Netting is available in the Outside Gardening section where you would find Weed Block material. Total materials cost to do my 210 was about $25.
Pic 3: This is a small square of the Bird Netting that is the actual screening material you will use. The squares are about 1/2" on a side. I used three layers of screen on mine.
Pic 4: These are the 4 sections of channel I cut for each of the three openings I made a cover for. Use the instructions on the plastic corner pieces for proper measurements. I used a hacksaw and a miter box. The pieces are simple butt end cuts. The plastic corner pieces are really handy. I determined total length of the inside lip of each section of the 210, then subtracted 1/8" so each cover would go on and off easily.
Pic 5: The corner plastic pieces slide into the channel frame. Nearly idiot proof, as they only go in one way.
Pic 6: Picture of the finished frame assembly.
Pic 7: Pic of the back of the frame. I have 4 Tunze 6105 pumps for circulation, so I used a dremel to edge out an opening on the back of each frame to allow the power cords to pass. You may or may not need to do this depending on your setup. The frame piece is still strong, even after removing that much material.
Pic 8: This is where I wrap the frame in the bird Netting until I have three layers of screen over the spline channel side of the cover. I found this Bird Netting a bit hard to work with, as it is VERY thin. The roll is 14 feet x 30 feet, so I cut a section about 30" wide x 14 feet, then just wrapped the frame in the screen. This made it easier to keep constant tension on the Netting and not have it bunch up.
Next post will finish up. Reached my Picture limit here.
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend>
