Glass Cover and lighting

2369 Views 16 Replies 13 Participants Last post by scott53326, Sep 26, 2007

scherzo

Discussion Starter · Aug 11, 2007

People are always worried about jumping fish. I don't have a glass cover at all on my 10 gallon (maybe these guys don't jump).

I was thinking of re-rigging my larger tank (with Arulias Barbs, Neons, and Clown loaches) and getting rid of the glass cover and raising my light fixtures (with legs) above the water. I know the loaches will stay put but my Barbs are quite energetic when feeding.

I have a Coralife 2X65 and plain old 2X15 Watt to make a total of 160 watts over my 55 gallon tank. I also have a 200 Watt heater and substrate heating (in fact my 200 Watt heater almost never turns on because the substrate heater works so well)

I really like the convenience of open tops. What are your opinions?

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

if_fishes_were_wishes

· #2 · Aug 11, 2007

I have a similar lighting set-up on my 55. I love the look of the open top, plus it was a pain lifting my twin tube light strip then opening the glass top. No casualties yet, and I have some crazy rainbows and rosy barbs. In addition, cleaning the glass tops was a pain in the butt!

ikuzo

· #3 · Aug 11, 2007

please do not put glass cover on aquariums. i made a mistake a long time ago and it killed all of my fish due to rising temperatures (and probably O2 shortage?).

cornhusker

· #4 · Aug 11, 2007

glass cover and lighting

I use flourescent plastic grids.the kind used on ceiling lights.just cut to measurements with wire cutter.you can feed your fish w/o removing.also if you are using a smaller light fixture it will set on gridwork.plastic will not melt and does not seem to distort lighting. cornhusker

JustOneMore21

· #5 · Aug 13, 2007

I use some of the plastic grids ^^ on my 55g planted because my Yoyo loaches do jump. If they didn't (or if I ever got rid of them) it would be open top. My other planted tanks are open and I love it that way. I also think glass blocks some light (especially when you don't clean them often

). Go open...or if you think something might jump, get some of the plastic eggcrate stuff.

Geoff C

· #6 · Aug 13, 2007

I use a sliding glass top on my 29g, so i dont have to worry about lifting my lights for feeding and whatnot. I did have my light on legs for a while but i liked the look of it sitting directly on the tank more.

Espada

· #7 · Aug 13, 2007

ikuzo said:
please do not put glass cover on aquariums. i made a mistake a long time ago and it killed all of my fish due to rising temperatures (and probably O2 shortage?).

You can't blame a glass top for killing your fish, you should blame yourself for not keeping the remperature and oxygen levels under control while using a glass canopy. Having small tanks like you do will indeed increase risks. I've used glass canopies for years on my tanks and still do and never had all my fish killed because of that.

DiabloCanine

· #8 · Aug 13, 2007

One of the biggest disadvantages to open top tanks for me is evaporation. Water evaporates and solids build up in the tank, over time it can be lethal. Additionally, since I have many tanks it created a humidity problem in my house.......DC

ikuzo

· #9 · Aug 13, 2007

Espada said:
You can't blame a glass top for killing your fish, you should blame yourself for not keeping the remperature and oxygen levels under control while using a glass canopy. Having small tanks like you do will indeed increase risks. I've used glass canopies for years on my tanks and still do and never had all my fish killed because of that.

did you read my post carefully? because i said i made a mistake, so yes of course i blamed myself for the stupidity. i'm not talking about a glass canopy, i'm talking about a flat glass to completely cover the whole tank with lighting directly above it which generate focused heat inside the tank. this effect plus the environment i live which is in a tropical region adds the factor of the fish death. and btw, the tank i was talking about is NOT one of my current tanks.

in this situatuon, how do you keep the temperature under control? IMO, you can't. sure you can go with chiller or fans, but that's going high-tech which is not applicable for small tanks. open tank is the way to go. i never had any dead fish / shrimps from jumping. suicide jumping fish will not happen if there's nothing wrong with the tank condition. amano's tanks are always open top and did he get jumping fish problems? i guess not... or he kept his secrets carefully

LS6 Tommy

· #10 · Aug 17, 2007

ikuzo said:
please do not put glass cover on aquariums. i made a mistake a long time ago and it killed all of my fish due to rising temperatures (and probably O2 shortage?).

Please don't make blanket statements like that. It can be very misleading, especially if the reader is new to aquariums. I know you said it was your mistake, but IMO there are more reasons to run a glass top than reasons not to, number one being electrical safety. The "standard" 15 W fixtures like scherzo's using are labeled "not for use directly over open water" for a reason. As for your reply stating the "suicide jumping fish will not happen if there's nothing wrong with the tank condition", that's misleading, too. I have had at least 3 Hatchet fish jump out recently during routine maintenance or just when I've had the glass top open for feedings. I have had occaisional jumpers before, & I'm sure I'm not the only fish keeper to have fish of any kind jump out of a perfectly healthy tank. On the flip side of that, I have had some really poorly maintained tanks when I was young, lazy & before I learned the proper upkeep of a tank. They were topless tanks and I never had ANY fish jump out, even when they started dying of the miserable conditions...

Geoff C said:
I use a sliding glass top on my 29g, so i dont have to worry about lifting my lights for feeding and whatnot.

X2. Best DIY thing I've done for the tank.

DiabloCanine said:
One of the biggest disadvantages to open top tanks for me is evaporation. Water evaporates and solids build up in the tank, over time it can be lethal. Additionally, since I have many tanks it created a humidity problem in my house.......DC

X2. I hate cleaning off the distillates. I had 8 tanks in my bedroom when I still lived at my parent's house. My room ran about 75* @ 70% relative humidity in the winter. :icon_lol: As for the buildup in the tank, it should'nt be a problem if you do actual water changes, not just top off the evaporated water.

Tommy <9))>>{

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crazy loaches

· #11 · Aug 18, 2007

ikuzo said:
i never had any dead fish / shrimps from jumping. suicide jumping fish will not happen if there's nothing wrong with the tank condition.

Many fish may 'jump' due to curiosity or many other reasons that dont involve bad tank parameters. I've had loaches attempt to get into HOB's and an ABF that was startled and launched himself (luckily I was close by and put it back in quickly).

Here is a neat video clip http://www.schmerlen.de/video/histrion-out1.avi if it works for you, it wont play at my work computer but think its just a codec issue since it played at home. Shows a curious loach exploring options of escape.

scherzo

Discussion Starter · #12 · Aug 18, 2007

Since I posted the first message I've now switched to TWO 2X65 Coralife fixtures. I'm using one raised with the tilting legs that you can get and one that is sitting above some glass just to protect from splashing since I run an airstone at night.

So I'm doing both. I almost never top up the tank when there is evaporation. I do about a 10-20% WC at that point just to make sure that everything is nice and clean and stable.

So I'm actually tanking everyones suggestion and running with and without a glass cover. If I get tired of cleaning the glass after a few months I may just run it with a completely open top.

-scherzo
PS Thanks for all of your suggestions..

kuruption

· #13 · Aug 24, 2007

I have roseline sharks and some Siamese algae eaters that love to jump. I have already lost a few of them to jumping when I left my tank uncovered, so I put the glass cover back on. in fact, the other day while I was doing some maintenance on the tank, I removed the glass cover... and within a few minutes, my Siamese algae eater had jumped out onto the carpet. He's fine now, though.

The other issue I had with leaving the tank uncovered is the musky smell in the house. With the tank covered, the smell is kept to a minimum.

ummyeah

· #14 · Sep 26, 2007

Doesn't your glass canopy black hinges block light? I have that problem, so I used acrylic from Home Depot but it bows inward. Now I am looking to get glass custom cut.

scott53326

· #15 · Sep 26, 2007

I just ripped off my hinges from the glass versa tops a couple days ago. I am much happier now.

I just have to be a bit more careful when I take the front part glass section off so I dont knock it off where it is sitting when I go to feed the fish, etc.

I was going to go with a canopy, but I think I will wait a while before investing a $100 for a canopy and my time to move the ballast/bulbs and reflectors.

-Scott

ummyeah

· #16 · Sep 26, 2007

How do you remove the hinges? Mine are very tightly attached.

scott53326

· #17 · Sep 26, 2007

Just put your lights over the hinges for an hour or so..maybe even a couple hours then just start at one end and rip them off. Its really a lite adhesive, so once you pry a hinge a little bit off at one edge of the glass the rest comes off easily.

-Scott

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