covered top

[Greybeard]

I guess I'll be the unpopular one... 60g rimless cube, an AL Halo (small, cube shaped light), open top. My tank is new, but it is intended to be primarily SPS with a few nice looking Clams. It will never be fish-heavy, and I like the open top look.

I have a pair of clowns, and a smith's blenny... I'll probably add a few more peaceful, calm fish in time. I'm considering a couple gobies. Could they jump out? Sure. I'll try and pick species where the risk is minimal, and keep out more aggressive fish, but yeah, it could happen. I'm willing to live without wrasses, anthias, dartfish... the 'known jumpers', along with the limits that the size of my 60g cube impose... no tangs, for instance.

Who knows, I may change my mind... I tried eggcrate at one point, but the reflection of light into the surrounding area was unacceptable. Will clear screen reduce that reflected light level? Black eggcrate? Don't know. I may look into it one day.

 

[MondoBongo]

I guess I'll be the unpopular one... 60g rimless cube, an AL Halo (small, cube shaped light), open top. My tank is new, but it is intended to be primarily SPS with a few nice looking Clams. It will never be fish-heavy, and I like the open top look.

I have a pair of clowns, and a smith's blenny... I'll probably add a few more peaceful, calm fish in time. I'm considering a couple gobies. Could they jump out? Sure. I'll try and pick species where the risk is minimal, and keep out more aggressive fish, but yeah, it could happen. I'm willing to live without wrasses, anthias, dartfish... the 'known jumpers', along with the limits that the size of my 60g cube impose... no tangs, for instance.

Who knows, I may change my mind... I tried eggcrate at one point, but the reflection of light into the surrounding area was unacceptable. Will clear screen reduce that reflected light level? Black eggcrate? Don't know. I may look into it one day.

i agree that tanks look way nicer when they're not covered, but i hate losing fish.

i had egg crate at first, and it blocked a lot of light and, as you noted, had quite a bit of reflection. the mesh/netting tops don't have these issues.

it still doesn't look as clean and tidy as no top, but it strikes a great balance between protecting your fish, and not blocking tons of light penetration and looking like hell.

on my mesh top the mesh itself doesn't really reflect any light, i used silver border material though (like slief's picture a few posts back) which does reflect a little. it would be easy enough to paint black (or i think there's even some that are black from the factory) but i also have a canopy so you can't see it at all.

 

[kmbyrnes]

My reef canopy is completely closed. But the 2 I am building for the FOWLR's will have open tops to allow heat to escape. They are 12" and 16" tall respectively, so a fish is gonna have to jump pretty high to tile surf.