Clear Cover of Tanks

[travis_]

I want to put a clear cover over my tanks to reduce evaporation and keep the heat contained. I have some pieces of plexiglass available, but my question is whether or not this is suitable and if it would block the UV? Would I be better off with glass? I would think anything would block at least some of the UV and result in less light to the corals. And what about oxygenation. If I cover all my tanks could I suffocate my critters?

 

[JasonD]

Here is a great article that shows par values with different setups...glass cover, with acrylic cover...

http://www.melevsreef.com/par_readings.html

I believe he used Starfire glass to cover his tank.

 

[dnjan]

And note that the glass cover was clean. In my experience, anything close to the water surface gets a salt film, and needs to be regularly cleaned.

Assuming you have a sump (with a skimmer), the aeration should not be a problem.

 

[jezzeaepi]

It blocks a lot of gas exchange is the real problem.

 

[Dutch-1969]

Yes, I clean my glas every other day and I have enough venting holes on the side for the "gas" to escape.

 

[iroll253]

I have 1/4 inch acrylic over mine and also drilled holes up the sides of it. It flexes soo i flip it every couple months. Also cleaning it every time i feed with fresh water seems to work fine.

 

[ac7av]

UV is bad
No UV is good

 

[ac7av]

I still run that old stuff called glass and a side from some cracks at the joining points it is all closed off. If you have a good size fuge or sump that is all open then your good I would think.

 

[tat2z_21]

Though you have gas exchange through your sump, wouldn't the heat build up be excessive. We do not know what this guys set up is. I would hate to tell him to cover the tank and then find out a week later he has no livestock left because his tank got up to 90 degrees. We need to know more about what you are running as far equipment goes. From my experience running glass hoods with metal halides increased my tank temp by almost 8 degrees. Then of course after the lights went out it swung 8 degrees the other direction. So tank temp, is probably more of a concern then gas exchange. If you have a sump you are obviusly pulling from the surface and therefore increasing your gas exchange.

 

[Chichas01]

I want to put a clear cover over my tanks to reduce evaporation and keep the heat contained. I have some pieces of plexiglass available, but my question is whether or not this is suitable and if it would block the UV? Would I be better off with glass? I would think anything would block at least some of the UV and result in less light to the corals. And what about oxygenation. If I cover all my tanks could I suffocate my critters?

You want to trap the heat? Does you tank run too cold or something? If that is the issue, buy bigger heater. Like some of the others are saying, if you trap the heat, you will have other problems.

 

[iroll253]

Evaporation was a main issue with me. I run a halide but have a clip fan on the hood so there is no swing in temp, it is on a dual timer with the halide.

 

[hernluis]

You want to trap the heat? Does you tank run too cold or something? If that is the issue, buy bigger heater. Like some of the others are saying, if you trap the heat, you will have other problems.

that would effec the gas exchange

 

[tat2z_21]

Even with a small fan the glass gets hot and effects the temperature of the air held within the tank. So evaporation is something that we have learned to deal with. Some poeple are fancy and have all of this remote plumbing that connects to the water tower down the street and plumbs their water to some fancy saltwater tank refinery and blasts it back to ROSIE (Jetsons robot maid) in which she carries the refined water up to the tank and pours the water in for them. (and I understand why they do this- salinity, and stability) However I have measured the tank at full and verified over 3 week time the salinity readings at different levels and marked the sump at where I got a slight increase in salinity. So the two red marks tell me when it is full and when I need grab the old 5 gallon bucket. I am too scared to add an auto top off system due to my inability to plan ahead for disasters.