Can I keep the tank covered and 3/4 of the sump covered if...

[hot4teacher]

If I have the display tank covered with glass (small areas for feeding and a little O2 exchange) and 3/4 of the sump covered with an airstone, will I run into trouble with a lack of gas exchange?

I need to keep the surface covered (tank is in a school) and I would like to cut down on evaporation. I know some guys don't cover anything...but our school is known to be very dusty.

What do you think?

65g acrylic
4x96w PC's
29g sump



Dana

 

[JR719]

You should be ok. Just remember, when covered... heat... You will have to dissipate heat somehow. Do you have a chiller on the tank? And salt creep, that will be an almost daily cleaning problem. If it is a fish only tank, the salt creep won't be such a problem for light, if there are light hungy corals, you will have to clean constantly. Just something to think about.

My 2 pennies,
JR

 

[Rborgia]

I just removed my MH/PC hood for a new Tek T5 fixture, less heat... right? I figured I would cover about 90% of tank. Well even though I have almost no heat from the lights my tank temp rose 6 degrees yesterday (85) . Well I promply removed the covering and it started coming down.

I'm now just covering the rear area and the overflow and across the front yto prevent salt creep.

Rich