any negatives to taking canopy off

[an411]

My canopy has a full lid on it I was going to take that off I was told that it will keep my tank cooler and in return will help with less evaporation. Cause It seems that I have to top off my tank pretty often. Can anyone think of any negatives of taking the lid off my canopy?

 

[Nano Chris]

Is your light built into the canopy? If so than that would be the only thing stopping unless you find a way to mount it, if it can be hung or mounted without a canopy go for it.

 

[an411]

yeah the lights will be fine they are not connected to the lid of the canopy they sit o n the lip that allows it to sit on the tank.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

You will probably get MORE evaporation with the lid off, but that's probably a good thing - it'll help with cooling quite a bit and will allow you to dose more kalk solution once you get corals in the tank.

Taking the lid off will also help with gas exchange, and it'll increase the intensity of your lighting within the tank.

Generally, I don't think there is a strong argument for leaving a glass or acrylic lid on a reef tank. If you have fish that jump, put eggcrate on instead.

 

[an411]

der_wille_zur_macht Wouldn't you get less evaporation since the heat can get dissipated up instead of the it sitting in the canopy?

Also with the gas exchange part what type of gases are exchanged?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Having a glass top on the tank traps a layer of very moist air right next to the water's surface, which is not conducive to further evaporation. Taking the cover off will expose the water's surface to the drier air in your home, and at least a certain amount of circulation; which is very conducive to evaporation.

Carbon dioxide and oxygen are the two important gasses that will exchange between air and your tank, but if you have a powerful skimmer it probably won't make much difference in this department, since the skimmer will be causing quite a bit of gas exchange as it is, so your tank will probably be at equilibrium with the air in this sense.

 

[Bebo77]

my canopy as no top so that heat can escape..

 

[an411]

der_wille_zur_macht the canopy is an oak canopy and it sits about 12 inches from the surface of the water and the back in also open so the lid that I am referring to is about 12 inches from the water surface.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Oh, OK. My impression was that you were talking about one of those plain glass or acrylic tops that typically come with new tanks.

 

[an411]

So with that in mind I know that the gas eschange part still holds true. Does the evaporation part also hold true now?

 

[K' Family Reef]

i have a canopy w/ vho lites installed inside
at nite i leave the canopy open to help cool the tank... we live in the desert 110' days! so any extra cooling we can do (w/o a chiller) helps keep the tank cooler the next day

also i like the look of a canopy on top of the aquarium
i am only using vho liting but when i get metal halides i will prob get a simple open top 'canopy' to hide the lites... shallow maybe 8 inches high.

evaporation is not a bad thing
unless perhaps you dont have an rodi unit and have to go shopping for your water

good luck and regards!

 

[vader88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10668511#post10668511 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WarrenAmy&Maddy
i have a canopy w/ vho lites installed inside
at nite i leave the canopy open to help cool the tank... we live in the desert 110' days! so any extra cooling we can do (w/o a chiller) helps keep the tank cooler the next day

also i like the look of a canopy on top of the aquarium
i am only using vho liting but when i get metal halides i will prob get a simple open top 'canopy' to hide the lites... shallow maybe 8 inches high.

evaporation is not a bad thing
unless perhaps you dont have an rodi unit and have to go shopping for your water

good luck and regards!

What can I expect since I'm moving to NC during the summer months...
they hit 98 w/ high humidity

The house would be set on 75 F and I plan on using a stand fixture
with a two 250 watt MH and 4 65 watt PC. I planned on using a glass canopy, but will nix the idea if it will help with head dispersion.

I'm really trying to get a way with not havin a chiller. I'd like to keep my reef in the 80 F range.

 

[K' Family Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10668570#post10668570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vader88
What can I expect since I'm moving to NC during the summer months...
they hit 98 w/ high humidity

The house would be set on 75 F and I plan on using a stand fixture
with a two 250 watt MH and 4 65 watt PC. I planned on using a glass canopy, but will nix the idea if it will help with head dispersion.

I'm really trying to get a way with not havin a chiller. I'd like to keep my reef in the 80 F range.

vader
my 125 reef sits on the western side of the house (the hottest side in the afternoon)... we keep our house nite/day at 78' (used to be 75 until i set up the reef lol) which 78 is feels cool in the desert and its very comfortable for my wife and i... days here in the desert get up to 110'... i dont know the 'avg' but it has be 100+/day... i am not running a chiller, here is what i do


black honeywell hi power fan
sitting on grating blowing directly down into sump

med size clip on blowing into canopy
w/ small pc fan blowing out the other end of it down into overflow

also med size clip on blowing across 50gal display fuge

tank stays at 76-77nite/82day
that flucuation seems to be 'constant'


if the black sump fan is on medium (less noise)
the tank system only gets down to 78/79 at nite... then heats up to 83 during the daytime and in my tank 83 is going over the edge... its too much and the corals start showing stress... 82 is probably the max temp my corals can tolerate... would prefer keeping it constant at 80

so basically at nite when sitting around w/ family if the tank is at 80' then i will turn the fan down to low or med until we go to bed then back on high overnite... always open hood at nite for any extra cooling it might do... this works and i have no intention of buying a chilller... everything else in my reef system is quiet (pumps overflows etc) so the only noise is the fan on occasion