screen vs glass cover?

Yvonne Wong · Dec 3, 2018

We live in CA and keep the house at a cozy 74 year round. The glass top keep the temp evenly at 78, don’t even need a heater. Very little evaporation, minimal salt creep, no heater needed are the reasons I use a glass top in the winter.

Superdad4 · Dec 3, 2018

For those of you with glass tops, how much of a pain is it to keep clean? Does algae accumulate quickly? Cleaning the sides of the aquarium is no problem, but it seems like cleaning the underside of a glass lid very often might be a pain.

Mical · Dec 3, 2018

I make cleaning glass a weekly maintenance project. I test weekly Sal, alk, cal & mag, clean skimmers and clean glass and top off ATOs

Instigate · Dec 4, 2018

Another plus for screen tops I didn't see mentioned is that any jumpers you might have wont break their spines when they try to make an escape.

Lunger50 · Dec 4, 2018

Glass, on a 65, easy to clean, take em off give a rinse and dry. 5 minutes total.

Just measured light with a par meter. With the glass top relatively clean I was losing between 10-15 par, so no biggie

Rich Klein · Dec 4, 2018

Went to screens to stop the jumpers, improve gas exchange, minimize the loss of light (better than even clean glass), and I never have to clean the glass cover anymore (yeah!). As said above, my ATO handles the evaporation.

ZoWhat · Dec 4, 2018

to avoid nitrate build up, those gases need to be released airborne

there's a lot of chemical reactions taking place and the byproduct are gases that need to be released

.

cromag27 · Dec 4, 2018

skimjim said:
to avoid nitrate build up, those gases need to be released airborne

there's a lot of chemical reactions taking place and the byproduct are gases that need to be released

.

various gasses is correct. no3 is not correct. simple fix- more surface agitation or even an open sump.

JRAD · Dec 5, 2018

I like screen. Like a safety trampoline- bounces fish fight back into play. Had a red coris that hit a glass top ten years ago. Fish was visibly stunned and spent the next 2 days in the sand bed! The extra evaporation I get with screen helps keep tank temp down.

Swoody · Dec 5, 2018

I just recently started using a top and built my own screen top with matl. purchased from BRS and Home Depot. I thought I would hate it but it very quickly became invisible to us. My lights are 8.5” over water with the screen between... slightest amount of spray can reach the end lamp but not enough to ever be an issue.

JBKReef · Dec 5, 2018

cromag27 said:
no data. would be interesting to research. well, somebody else to research, not me.

I'll bite. Toss me a solid acrylic lid and one with netting. I'll take some measurements and gas readings with each and report back.

cromag27 · Dec 5, 2018

JBKReef said:
I'll bite. Toss me a solid acrylic lid and one with netting. I'll take some measurements and gas readings with each and report back.

let’s do it! i’ll send you my paypal address.

JBKReef · Dec 5, 2018

cromag27 said:
let’s do it! i’ll send you my paypal address.

Dont tempt me, I'm fighting a screen net right now trying to drill a chord channel through one of the corner clips for my Icecap 1k Gyre cord. I keep thinking.... "an OctoLid would be so much easier"

cromag27 · Dec 5, 2018

JBKReef said:
Dont tempt me, I'm fighting a screen net right now trying to drill a chord channel through one of the corner clips for my Icecap 1k Gyre cord. I keep thinking.... "an OctoLid would be so much easier"

aluminum or plastic?

JBKReef · Dec 5, 2018

cromag27 said:
aluminum or plastic?

Aluminum frame, plastic corner.

Is it pretty? No.
Is it going to work? Somewhat. Probably not as well as I would like.

cromag27 · Dec 5, 2018

JBKReef said:
Aluminum frame, plastic corner.

Is it pretty? No.
Is it going to work? Somewhat. Probably not as well as I would like.

test fit it and make sure you drilled it deep enough inward.

JBKReef · Dec 5, 2018

cromag27 said:
test fit it and make sure you drilled it deep enough inward.

@cromag27 i’ll shoot you an IM

Not trying to steal your thunder @Neptune 555

saltyhog · Dec 5, 2018

I have wrasses....lots of wrasses. Glass tops are not an option due to the increased chance of spinal injuries. I have fish hit the screen every single day. I would have an ATO with or without the change in evaporation with glass so evaporation is a non factor for me. I also don't want to deal with the condensation and cleaning. With my acrylic/screen tops I can gently rinse them off every great once in a while. No fuss.

roberthu526 · Dec 5, 2018

I use glass tops for evaporation reasons. My tank is rather large and in a small room. With condensation it works perfectly as a diffuser. I run a chiller in the summer to bring the temperature down.

norfolkgarden · Dec 5, 2018

Superdad4 said:
For those of you with glass tops, how much of a pain is it to keep clean? Does algae accumulate quickly? Cleaning the sides of the aquarium is no problem, but it seems like cleaning the underside of a glass lid very often might be a pain.

Lol, yup, it is a pain. But not the end of the world.

On par with re righting random frags.

Lol, unless they got damaged.