Egg crate tank cover

[Susan Edwards]

In anticipation of moving my sand sifting goby into this tank on Saturday, I made an egg crate cover for the tank. Question: will it block too much light? The tank is a display refugium. Currently it has the colt corals as I got tired of fishing out dropped branches in the main tank (and have lots of "new colts" growing in sand and on rocks!), Xenia-put here for same reason--don't want a tank full of xenia, and my macro algae which is pretty much dragon's breath at this point. I have the blues almost all the way up, and the whites (and red and green) around 60-70 %. Oh, there are copepods in there and i'll eventually put some chaeto in a bottle in one corner for a safe haven breeding area once fish go back in.

I'm thinking for what is in there it should be good but another opinion won't hurt

 

[Ocelaris]

It will block a decent amount of light, but that's dependent on the corals. However one problem with egg crate for fish that like to jump (wrasses) is that it's very inflexible, and can break their backs. So I prefer to use the window screen kit from either BRS or home depot/lowes. It has a little bit more bounce when the fish hit it! The 1/4" clear screen for is good for the top.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yes, but you can probably turn up the light.

 

[Big G]

I use those cut-it-yourself window screen kits from Home Depot. For the screening, I wanted larger mesh than the standard window mesh. So I bought some 1/4" plastic insect mesh that's used in the garden to keep bugs off plants. It works really well.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Okay, that all makes sense. I'll order the brs kit but in the meantime, this should work. That tank will never have more than a couple fish. The gold head goby has never jumped, but I needed a "just in case". He was in my main tank but I have too many coral on sand now for him. This tank will have a couple of damsels besides the goby and they never jumped before when they were in there. Some of the colts will go to a lfs if they will take them...

 

[Orm Embar]

I would second the recommendation for BulkReefSupply's clear mesh netting/DIY screen top (they did a video where the PAR reduction was only around 5%). Eggcrate blocks significantly more light from what I recall.

If I recall correctly, eggcrate is directional (to help focus light); I forget which side goes up.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Oh, didn't know that on the egg crate! Hopefully, with the brs I can do cutouts for the filter fittings. I'm using a canister filter on that tank until the two tanks are plumbed. So actually, might be better to wait on that type of lid as I'd have to redo it once I hooked the two tanks together.

 

[CanadianReefer]

How big are your fish? I had a blue spotted jawfish and a longnose hawkfish that both got through the holes in the egg crate and went carpet surfing

 

[Labridaedicted]

Oh, didn't know that on the egg crate! Hopefully, with the brs I can do cutouts for the filter fittings. I'm using a canister filter on that tank until the two tanks are plumbed. So actually, might be better to wait on that type of lid as I'd have to redo it once I hooked the two tanks together.

I agree with everyone above. The brs screen kits are the way to go. You can cut holes in the screen if you need to. I did it on my sump/ observation tank and on the display for the cables for the gyres

Pardon the sloppy job on the corrugated .

It looks cleaner, blocks less light, and is smaller mesh. Pretty much better in all categories except it takes a little while you make them.

 

[Orm Embar]

I used a trick I saw from another reefer - BRS kit of most of the lid except the backmost 3"; black eggcrate for those last 3" so you can easily make cutouts for cords and such. I think that it looks rather slick ;-)

 

[SnapBackReeef]

I would get rid of the egg crate for sure. Go on google and search clear fish netting. I think bulk Reef supply has it. It’s what I have and it lets in all of the light while keeping my inhabitants IN my tank [emoji4]

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Orm Embar that is a great idea! I'll eventually have an overflow on one side and a return along the back or other side, so I could prob. do egg crate along the two short sides and screen for rest. Thanks for all the imput

 

[cracker]

Miss Susan, here is how I used bothe the screen & egg crate. works very well for me .

 

[Big G]

I zip tie 1/4" mesh garden netting to the egg crate to keep slender fish from popping out through the egg crate. Great idea to do just the rear edge with egg crate. So many helpful ideas here at R2R. Thanks everyone!

 

[Orm Embar]

My setup looks like Cracker's, but with black eggcrate (which looks cooler but is harder to find). I use a folded over piece of clear packing tape as the "handle" to move my screen top around rather than a plastic loop, but it all works. I have the aquarium lid clips on the sides, and the front ones are just far forward enough that if I slide the screen on top of the eggcrate section (a quick way to access for feeding), the front edge is still supported and doesn't fall into the water. Please ignore the Reef Chili feeding bottle :-D

 

[Susan Edwards]

You all are awesome @cracker @Orm Embar and everyone else. I'm going to split the screen into 2 as the tank has that center piece. That way I can just remove half for when I need to do so. I feel good now that I have a plan! Now if I could find someone to come plumb my 2 tanks together....

 

[joseph78009]

I use 3 egg crate frames then attach plastic screen from brs on my 150 gallon that way I can remove sections easily to do maintence while still having most of my tank covered to keep jumpers in.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Did a short piece to go across front of my tank as I have to leave the tank open to allow a fan to blow across water--no chiller. EC stops just where lights begin so shouldn't block light.

Also got a new power filter for hex qt and lid no longer fits. Egg crate to the rescue. That tank is going to be just fish qt

 

[Dana Riddle]

There are two types of egg crate. The best is parabolic that is made to concentrate fluorescent lighting (although it works with other types as well and can increase intensity by as much as 25% in the center of the light - at the expense of outer areas, of course.) Look closely at the squares - if one side's square has a thicker perimeter, you've got the parabolic type. If it doesn't, it's the cheap stuff. I use egg crate (the cheap stuff) on my tank since I'm not worried about light intensity (I have enough at 40%!) and use it just to keep fishes in, collect some salt spray, and act as a storage area.

 

[AMPM]

The egg crate definitely blocks the light, that's what it's designed to do. My both and I use egg crate like you did but only for a boarder. Cut out the center and get the mesh net from BRS and zip tie it to your egg crate boarder