Problem....need help

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Hey I am looking at getting lights for my 72 gallon soon...but I have one problem.

I have a Snowflake eel in the tank, and I use two glass covers to keep him from escaping...without them I guarantee he would escape (it has happened before). But if I add 500+ watts of MH lighting above the glass, there could be problems couldn't there? I mean I would think the Plastic that hold the glass together would melt, and wouldn't this glass cut down tremendously on the light which reaches the aquarium?

So what should I do? One of my ideas was a sort of metal mesh I could cut to the size of my tank...would that work?

 

[pewpewlazerbeam]

Dont see why a metal mesh wouldnt work. But i also dont see a problem with glass. Assuming it is clear it should pass like 90% of the uv through.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

What about the plastic that holds the pieces of glass together and creats a hinge so you can open it in the front?

 

[pewpewlazerbeam]

Exactly what plastic are we talking about?

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

http://www.pandk.org/tank/glasscover.jpg

See the plastic that is used to connect the two pieces of glass and it makes a kind of hinge? Like that

 

[rainydave]

You could look at making a "screen" using pond netting. I built one for my old bc29 and one for my 40b. The window screen frame & pond netting is fairly inexpensive at Lowes/Home Depot.

Here's the screen on my 40b

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

I like the look of that rainydave...

 

[Xtremedave67]

barb wire?? LOL joking just had a sarcastic impulse LOL

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

HAHAHAHHAHAHA i actually lol'd on that on

 

[Holygral]

HAHAHAHHAHAHA i actually lol'd on that on

That close type of top will not let gas exchange happen. Try egg crate. They sell it with small openings

 

[slim_jim989]

+1 with eggcrate and man i guess i just had a model citizen of a snowflake eel. never once tried to escape.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

+1 with eggcrate and man i guess i just had a model citizen of a snowflake eel. never once tried to escape.

haha very first day my eel escaped

AND that was by going through the overflow box and out the top of it

 

[slim_jim989]

wow ya i got mine when he was a baby only 5 inches, he was in a 12 gal nano for awhile. thats him in my Avatar. and then he grew big in my bigger tank and loved it maybe he was scared of the lionfish lol but go with barb wire hell never jump haha

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

haha yeah first day he was in the tank i was gone and my dad woke up and found the eel on the floor and picked it up to put him in....and the thing bit his hand multiple times...haha.

thats also him in my avatar

 

[slim_jim989]

Ya mine would bite me when i fed him silversides, i dont think there vison is good at close ranges lol. but try out the egg crate as the glass would trap in gases that you want to escape and make it almost like a sauna in there

 

[lvsuckerfish]

Knocks on wood I never had a eel or any fish jump on me only one tank unclosed but still open on the back side my eels been in 2 55's and a 100 and never tried to escape i don't think I ever saw it come to the top of the tank has yours shown signs of jail breaks? you could also do the clear mesh that would help and alsoI have seen alot of people use with mh and they haven't said any issues with melting.