Acrylic framed screen for rimless tank

Jimbo662 · Apr 14, 2014

After adding two pegs I was able to get the net pretty flat. I need to find a way to like iron it to get all those wrinkles / folds out. Looking head on you can't hardly see it at all. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

ethridge78 · Apr 14, 2014

looks good you did a great job

jasonp87 · Apr 14, 2014

Thanks for the idea. I was able to build mine this weekend as well. Looks much better than the window screen kits you normally see. I also have some trouble with folds, I may see if I can pull it tighter and maybe over time the creases will go away.

jozeenotslar · Apr 14, 2014

What kind of netting did you use?

YoteHunter50276 · Apr 14, 2014

That looks great- what a great idea!
This stuff's all pretty new to me- what is that mesh? I've never seen anything like that....

Jimbo662 · Apr 14, 2014

It's the clear netting from BRS. I'm hoping with the heat / moisture coming off the tank the creases will start to go away.

YoteHunter50276 · Apr 14, 2014

With heat and moisture, if the creases come out, it's only going to "sag"... Is it possible to stretch it one(1) square along the length and width? Might have to "skip" the interior "pegs", but if you fasten to one corner peg and then stretch it to the other corner peg would it be tight enough to pull the wrinkles....?

Jimbo662 · Apr 14, 2014

I think I will have enough slack to be able to stretch it one more square because it's not quite taut as it is now.

Velodog2 · Apr 14, 2014

The frame is going to bow inwards as soon as you start to stretch the screen.

Jimbo662 · Apr 14, 2014

I've got a center brace so hopefully it'll help keep it firm.

Daimyo68 · Apr 14, 2014

This is looking great. A clean look with the peace of mind of not having fish be able to take the leap of faith.

I'm hoping to not be the bearer of bad news, but I think that the acrylic is going to "curve/bow" upwards at the corners over time. If your doesn't "bow" over the next 6 months, I'll be rebuilding mine

I built a DIY cover for my current rimless. 3/16 acrylic, it sits on the top edge of the tank, all the way around, very minimal visual impact. I also made an inner/lower frame and used WeldOn to attach it. This lower frame sits just inside the glass. I also routed all the way around so that I could push the spline/screen into the channel and it is hidden out of sight.

At first, it was perfectly flat; a nice clean look and I couldn't have been happier, but over time, the corners have "bowed" up. This is due to the acrylic's ability to absorb moisture (and in our use in the hobby, we are subjecting the acrylic to a moisture rich environment). Normal extruded acrylic is weaker when it comes to moisture, in that it does not have the ability to "fend off" moisture as well.

Now you might ask, "well what about tanks? sumps? and skimmers"? Top name sumps and almost all acrylic tanks and skimmers are made from Cell Cast Acrylic. Yes, they are both acrylic, but cell cast has a much stronger surface hardness, and much less chance of deforming and becoming brittle over time due to the environment we subject it to.

I subscribed to your thread. I'm really hoping yours stays as straight as an arrow, because I hate looking at the 4 bowed corners of mine.

Stemick · Apr 15, 2014

Looks good, it's one of the sharpest looking tank screens I have seen for a rimless! I have not bought any wrasses yet since my six line jumped out so I might make one of these. So I can buy that wrasse with out fear of it jumping. Or I could just spend the money on coral:eyebrows:

:usa2:

MistaOrange · Apr 15, 2014

This is such a cool idea to keep them tile surfers in the tank... Well done...

Jimbo662 · Apr 15, 2014

I'm hoping since I used the 1/4" square rods it'll minimize any bowing...only time will tell.

Daimyo68 · Apr 15, 2014

Jimbo662 said:
I'm hoping since I used the 1/4" square rods it'll minimize any bowing...only time will tell.

Definitely following along with progress. As mentioned, if your's doesn't bow, I'm doing my entire "lid" over again.

Jimbo662 · Apr 15, 2014

This is the mitre set I used to cut everything. After cutting I used some fine grit sand paper to smooth the ends and get the ridges from the saw marks off.

Mitre Box Set- - Rakuten.com Shopping

-Logzor · Apr 15, 2014

Interesting approach, I considered going with acrylic as well but didn't have the means to do so. To be honest, I think you will need two complete acrylic frames, using wider acrylic, and sandwich mesh in between. This way you can stretch the mesh taut to remove the waves/ripples then glue everything together. With that, you would only then need two pegs holding up the frame at the midpoints of the two ends or perhaps one at each corner.

I'm still thinking about going with a acrylic rim as described above so I can cut in better notches for the powercords going into the tank.

Below is the BRS screen kit inset into my rimless aquarium, it worked out very well, I glued small plastic pieces into the corners to hold up the screen. The issue is cutting a notch for the power cord, for this application I cut a V shape and it worked OK. Anything more than that and the aluminium screen will bend/break due to the tension set in the mesh. I ruined one of the aluminum pieces and had to rebuild this screen because I cut a notch that was too large. I want to add another corded pump but I'm afraid of cutting in another notch and ruining my screen. This is why I want to switch to acrylic, so I can route in nice notches for the cords.