Tank Covering: What, How, When and Why?

[BiKes100g]

1. Is your tank covered? If not please tell us your reasoning.
Absolutely. Have three wrasse's and clowns. Definitely don't want them to jump & die.

2. How do you have your tank covered and are you happy with the solution you're using?
We made our own custom lid for our @Waterbox Aquariums with the D-D Jumpguard Pro.


3. What do you dislike about having to keep your tank covered?
Nothing. I love that all my fish will stay alive. lol

This looks really clean! I need one for my Waterbox

 

[Nick Steele]

1. Is your tank covered? If not please tell us your reasoning.
Yes

2. How do you have your tank covered and are you happy with the solution you're using?
Mesh lid provides by IM I am reasonably happy with it but does make mounting powerheads difficult.

3. What do you dislike about having to keep your tank covered?
Just the fact that my lid atm doesn’t have a feed slot so the whole thing has to come off to feed.


I’ve been dealing with ich for the past 3 months and lost all my fish so the lid has been left off numerous times and I really don’t notice a difference in how the tank looks.

 

[CEReefer]

1. Is your tank covered? Totally, 24/7

2. How do you have your tank covered and are you happy with the solution you're using? Red sea cover, even if my tank is not red sea ATM, but this product is great!

3. What do you dislike about having to keep your tank covered? Nothing really, the Red Sea is just perfect!

 

[Dburr1014]

My tank is covered with acrylic and my basement sump is not covered, best of both worlds I think. Tank gets lots of oxygen and protection from jumpers.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I use 2 glass panels that came with my aquarium, I just got them cut to allow for my hob skimmer and my in/out tubing to sit and have as much glass coverage as possible. Don't need any jumper's.

 

[lemrider]

I keep my tank covered at all times. The long time it’s not covered is when I’m feeding or doing maintenance. I have a glass lid with 2 pieces of glass and one piece plastic for each side. There is a plastic hinge between the two glass pieces to allow me to open the one have of the lid with out having to take it all the way off. The price of plastic is about 3 inches wide and go from the end of my glass lid to the back of the tank to allow wires to come out of the tank and still be tight fitting

I have my tank covered to help with fish jumping but also to help keep evaporation down.
I will always have my tank covered

 

[HB AL]

I have a question for people who have fish but never cover there tank. Why do you not cover your tank?

 

[ahilliman]

I cover mine most of the day to keep my dogs out of the tank and to keep their fur from flying into it and messing up the balance

 

[markysgirl]

I have my 75 covered with glass tops.
Two reasons for this:
1. My husband has a book collection that is in the same room and we were worried about the tank raising the humidity in the room so I wanted to limit the evaporation. (I have a 5-gallon top off tank that needs to be filled about once every 12 days or so)
2. I wanted a Midas Blenny so the tank needed to be covered.

I also have a sump in the stand that is uncovered so I am not concerned about gas exchange (pH has been a rock-solid 8.2 since I started the tank and the temp is always 78. I live in Texas and we keep our air on 72 all summer and the heat 62- 68 in the winter.

As far as cleaning goes, I take them off and wash them with HOT water and dish soap when I feel like it...probably every 6 weeks or so? I wipe them down with a towel to get the salt and dust off of them every other time I do my weekly water changes. This routine keeps them pretty clean and I don't feel like the tank is suffering from lack of light (I have a Kessil AP 700 mounted inside the canopy).
There is nothing I don't like about having the glass on the tank.

 

[Alex808]

1. Is your tank covered? If not please tell us your reasoning.

Yes because a hard glass cover controls evap.

2. How do you have your tank covered and are you happy with the solution you're using?

I have the standard folding cover with the plastic seam in the middle that fits the 20 long perfectly and leaves about 3 inch gap in back for HOB and equipment to fit in tank. If I had someone to do it for me, I would have a plexi/acrylic one made with cut outs to close the gap as much as possible with the equipment. I’m with what I have now because this cover alone has helped to maintain a level of stability.

3. What do you dislike about having to keep your tank covered?

I don’t dislike it at all except for the salt build up. It’s a regular wiping clean and that’s not a big deal to really dislike. Salt is part of the tank.

 

[HB AL]

Covered with glass, dont have any complaints I can think of. See no reason not to have it covered

 

[Vette67]

Canopy all the time. After having a few fish go carpet surfing, I put eggcrate along the opening in the back of my canopy. Haven’t had a carpet surfer in years.

 

[Kearneyc77]

I built my canopy when I bought my new light. Viparspectra 300w. It is open in the back for skimmer and filter access. But hides all of it from the front

 

[9975]

I keep my tank covered 24/7. I bought some mesh from BRS and made my own covers

 

[jnava19]

Mine is not covered, I know I should, but have not found yet a good/suitable option for doing it without changing the visual and affecting the light. But is something I am constantly looking, only one fish has jumped so far in 18 months and it was a blue damsel.

 

[Charlie C]

I use plastic “egg crate”, which is made for fluorescent light fixtures in offices - it hides the bulbs for a cleaner look. Easy to size with a pair of pliers. Can cut out areas for auto feeders, ATO, overflows, etc. Most home improvement stores carry this and it’s relatively inexpensive. My tank is covered 24/7.

 

[Alex808]

I use plastic “egg crate”, which is made for fluorescent light fixtures in offices - it hides the bulbs for a cleaner look. Easy to size with a pair of pliers. Can cut out areas for auto feeders, ATO, overflows, etc. Most home improvement stores carry this and it’s relatively inexpensive. My tank is covered 24/7.

Picture of this? I’m interested in doing this as an alternative to my heavy glass cover

 

[cobast]

The Red Sea cover for a 450 reefer is $140 in Aus.
How do you make a custom one go around the light stands clamped to the back of your tank? I've never seen any zigzag fittings like the RedSea ones

 

[Marsh980]

I have sliding glass lids and a matching pelmet for my tank and its covered 24/7. I've even had to cover the small triangular holes (i assume there for the equipment wires which I don't have any coming out the tank) due to a diamond watchman goby deciding to jump and commit suicide.

I don't find the glass gets that dirty, bar the drips when i take my hand out, but that involves a 5 second wipe to clear off.

I do give the glass lids a good clean every fortnight to ensure full light exposure to my corals. I use 3 Radion XR15s so I'm not bothered about the tiny amount of light loss.

I prefer glass due to the reduced evaporation and next to no salt creep but i also keep numerous wrasses as they're some of my favourite fish.

 

[Kris 2020]

1. Is your tank covered? If not please tell us your reasoning.
No, its rimless and I like the clean look and easy accessibility. I have had a couple of fish jump in 11 years of open top tanks, and they were ones that are prone to jumping that I bought anyway so my bad. That being said, my female clown goes on the attack whenever I have my hands in the tank, and if she misses me at high speed she flies right out. Never seems worse for the wear, and never learns from it lol.