What's the best way to cover a tank?

[texman]

I just picked up a couple of very expensive wrasses which have a tendancy to jump. What is the best way of covering the water surface without shielding too much light? I thought of egg crate, however think that I would lose a significant amount of light which is travelling to the tank obliquely. Door screening also seems to block a lot of light. What should I do.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd go to a plastic shop and get some acrylic cut to fit your tank. If you can cut the acrylic yourself, just pick some up at HD. This is going to decrease your o2 exchange. Maybe you could drill a bunch of small holes in them to help promote gas exchange.

HTH

Louey

 

[texman]

I have acrylic covers that came with the tank, but don't really like using them because they greatly reduce evaporation and thus retain more heat in the tank. I already have a 3/4 hp chiller which runs quite a bit to keep my temp down. Also the acrylic gets quite crusty with salt and significantly reduces the amount of light which gets into the tank. I already have enough stuff to clean and really don't want to have to clean the covers every other day.

 

[Anonymous]

You could use the egg crate or screen on the gaps from the canopy to the tank vertically rather than horizonally across the water's surface. But then again if you are using pendant lighting this isn't applicable.

 

[Carpentersreef]

What about the chrome-finished parabolic reflectors? (eggcrate) They are designed to reflect light. I put grow lights in my wife's dental office for all the plants, and used those. I'm pretty happy with them.

Mitch

 

[texman]

I did think of that Mitch, and I think that I will try it! The other thing that I am thinking about is stainless steel grid, which I have seen used on pump intakes for seawater. The only thing about the grid is trying to find it in a small enough quantity.