I have never known them to be jumpers, but after one week by Blue Throat is a hockey puck on the floor. My tank has plumbing that returns over the edge so those RedSea tops would need a ton of corners. My DIY skills aren't all that great, lots of turns are just more opportunities for errors. Has anybody ponied up for one of those fancy acrylic tops?
Need a Top - My Brand New Trigger Committed Suicide
- Thread starter joeyprice
- Start date
Sorry that happened! Can you take a picture of the top so we can see what you're working with? We may be able to help plan a DIY solution.
After having freshwater fish go carpet surfing I'll never have a tank without a lid again. I have a bowfront that I ended up using half screens and half acrylic so I could match the bow of the tank.
After having freshwater fish go carpet surfing I'll never have a tank without a lid again. I have a bowfront that I ended up using half screens and half acrylic so I could match the bow of the tank.
Not sure how much PAR you will lose with glass vs. acrylic but the tank will run a bit hotter due to lack of evaporative cooling. This can be good in the winter, not so much in the summer. Our tank came with a custom glass lid and the cleaning of the salt creep alone was worth switching to DIY screen lids (there's a center brace so we built 2, one for either side). Ended up using 1"x2" pine from Home Depot and some 1/4" mesh screen from BRS. Just tacked it to the bottom with tiny staples after screwing the pieces together. Had to add corners for our HOB overflow on the left and our return plumbing that comes up over the right corner into the tank (it's not drilled). These old photos are from back when we built our lids:
If you decide to build a lid out of wood, a chop saw and these 90 degree clamps make it pretty easy to get the corners perfect: https://www.homedepot.com/p/BESSEY-...Clamp-with-1-2-in-Throat-Depth-WS-1/204958409
Also, pre-drill your holes to prevent splitting the ends when you screw them together.
If you decide to build a lid out of wood, a chop saw and these 90 degree clamps make it pretty easy to get the corners perfect: https://www.homedepot.com/p/BESSEY-...Clamp-with-1-2-in-Throat-Depth-WS-1/204958409
Also, pre-drill your holes to prevent splitting the ends when you screw them together.
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Sealing off the top with glass or acrylic (acrylic will warp) is also not good for gas exchange.
If it makes you feel any better, I turned a Sargassum loose in the tank once and it immediately swam right into a nasty huge blue carpet that flopped over closed on him..
We are talking like less than a minute..
We are talking like less than a minute..
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ClearView Lids - The Difference is Clear and the answer is here!
Best money I have spent in the hobby, hands down.
Best money I have spent in the hobby, hands down.
This is exactly what I was thinking, but with the frame made of polycarbonate
The lead times on these are crazy. How long did it take for yours to come in?
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It was about 3 years ago. Maybe 4 weeks? I do not recall. The awesomeness of the product as erased any memory of delay in arrival!
I'll reach out to them once I find the measuring tape. Thanks