Surface air? O2 to the water, etc

[Jon Fishman]

I don’t want a top for my tank, at least not permanently, but I discovered the dry winter air is causing some serious evaporation in my tank. My tank has a lot of surface area, so that doesn’t help.

I ordered two large sheets of acrylic.

Here are the details.....

20” front-to-back an 96” long tank. There is euro-bracing made from a single sheet of 1” acrylic so it gives a ledge all around the tank and an 8-10” center-brace.

I ordered two 48” wide sheets of 1/2” acrylic to lay on top of my tank to help with evaporation based on the fact that I put a sheet on top of my max-nano that I am using as an Octopus tank, and I noticed immediately that I went from filling the tiny ATO reservoir built into it from every 2 days, to well over a week!

My question is...... with pumps in the sump, Ozone generator, skimmer, Pumps for UV that feed water back to sump, ATS pump, and my return lines etc...... If I have a decent amount of surface agitation with my powerheads in the tank, will everything be fine?

I don’t have an ORP probe (yet) and I don’t know what effect if any this will have on pH......

Do I need to leave open “holes” or cut vents into the top to allow air-exchange or will livestock be fine in a basically greenhouse type of box? I know I will need to keep an eye on temperature too.


Everything that “was” in the nano did fine with very little surface agitation, but I don’t want to come home to heavy-breathing and dead fish.

Sorry..... I just don’t know how much surface air is needed.

The top of the waterline to where the top would sit, would be about 5 inches.

Thanks!

 

[ihavecrabs]

I used glass from Ace Hardware to partially cover my display. I leave 3 6” sections uncovered on my 60” wide display and have no issues.

Fully covered I would have concerns. Those concerns would be rooted in the questions: 1) can my skimmer inject enough air effectively to replace my fully covered display, 2) can my return pump cycle enough of that O2 rich water fast enough, and 3) if one of those fails (skimmer or return) do I have a redundancy.

These concerns can be addressed by providing some venting. Since acrylic will warp easily, I’d recommend leaving all four sides against the euro bracing and drill a few holes per panel for air exchange.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Oh and the temperature retention improvement is a plus if you live zone 4 and above

 

[Jon Fishman]

Oh and the temperature retention improvement is a plus if you live zone 4 and above

I am actually concerned about the tank getting too warm as it is during my light period, despite it being 25 degrees outside!

 

[ihavecrabs]

I am actually concerned about the tank getting too warm as it is during my light period, despite it being 25 degrees outside!

A few vent holes should be enough. If you can return the acrylic, a few sheets of glass from Ace Hardware or any glass shop is incredibly cheap and you won’t have to support it from all sides (so you can leave a gap).

I’m in zone 5 and my tank is in the basement so it never gets warm enough unfortunately. Heaters and AC both going in summer is painful lol

 

[Jon Fishman]

A few vent holes should be enough. If you can return the acrylic, a few sheets of glass from Ace Hardware or any glass shop is incredibly cheap and you won’t have to support it from all sides (so you can leave a gap).

I’m in zone 5 and my tank is in the basement so it never gets warm enough unfortunately. Heaters and AC both going in summer is painful lol

I can certainly cancel the order. I thought glass was fairly expensive too though

Just looked up on Home Depot. You just saved me $175 or so! Thanks

 

[lapin]

You can also use this if you are not spanning a long distance.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Tuftex-Pol...ated-Polycarbonate-Plastic-Roof-Panel/3043439