After a several year hiatus, I am considering getting my 38 gallon tank out of the garage and setting it up for a reef. However, this is a cat containing houehold, so I'm trying to figure out how to "cat proof" the top of the tank.
Option 1 - keep the glass cover that comes with the tank, remove any shielding (if any) from either a 4 bulb HO T5 setup or a Kessil A350 (corals a mix of softies/LPS/SPS), and try to keep the glass clean. If this doesn't significantly affect light into the tank, I like this option for simplicity and aesthetics.
Option 2 - get rid of the glass portion for the back of the tank and cover with plastic eggcrate (which I would think would be sufficiently uncomfortable for cat paws that they wouldn't do this more than once). This would seem like a decent idea for running T5's, but with a Kessil A350 I would think that I'd get a ton of shadowing.
Option 3 - get rid of the hood and get a custom wooden hood with a T5 kit retrofitted. I think that this rules out an LED pendant due to the height needed. I used to have a wooden hood on my 65 with a MH in the center and my old cat used to lie on the warm spot of the hood and watch the fish.
Comments? Anyone else with any ideas (that don't involve getting rid of the cats or the reef)?
For those who are interested, the general design would be a 1-2" fine sandbed with aquacultured live rock, 2 wide flow powerheads, an in tank macroalgae (non Caulerpa; either seagrass, Chaeto, Sargassum, or that red branching macroalgae) for nutrient export, and a skimmerless system in general (terebellids/Neisserea (? sp) for sandbed maintenance). Possibly an Aquaclear box filter on the back for adding stuff, and an option for a hanging ReefOctopus skimmer for curing the rock and for emergencies. Bioload = 3 fish (royal gramma, common clown, sixline wrasse). Coral mix - Mushrooms/Ricordea with softies, some LPS, and maybe an SPS or 2 near the top. If I'm feeling adventurous, an anemone but given the risk of either a powerhead chewing it up or the anemone moving at some point and killing corals. Think I've covered the high points . . . tank is 24" long by 21" high by 18" deep, so vaguely cubelike.
Option 1 - keep the glass cover that comes with the tank, remove any shielding (if any) from either a 4 bulb HO T5 setup or a Kessil A350 (corals a mix of softies/LPS/SPS), and try to keep the glass clean. If this doesn't significantly affect light into the tank, I like this option for simplicity and aesthetics.
Option 2 - get rid of the glass portion for the back of the tank and cover with plastic eggcrate (which I would think would be sufficiently uncomfortable for cat paws that they wouldn't do this more than once). This would seem like a decent idea for running T5's, but with a Kessil A350 I would think that I'd get a ton of shadowing.
Option 3 - get rid of the hood and get a custom wooden hood with a T5 kit retrofitted. I think that this rules out an LED pendant due to the height needed. I used to have a wooden hood on my 65 with a MH in the center and my old cat used to lie on the warm spot of the hood and watch the fish.
Comments? Anyone else with any ideas (that don't involve getting rid of the cats or the reef)?
For those who are interested, the general design would be a 1-2" fine sandbed with aquacultured live rock, 2 wide flow powerheads, an in tank macroalgae (non Caulerpa; either seagrass, Chaeto, Sargassum, or that red branching macroalgae) for nutrient export, and a skimmerless system in general (terebellids/Neisserea (? sp) for sandbed maintenance). Possibly an Aquaclear box filter on the back for adding stuff, and an option for a hanging ReefOctopus skimmer for curing the rock and for emergencies. Bioload = 3 fish (royal gramma, common clown, sixline wrasse). Coral mix - Mushrooms/Ricordea with softies, some LPS, and maybe an SPS or 2 near the top. If I'm feeling adventurous, an anemone but given the risk of either a powerhead chewing it up or the anemone moving at some point and killing corals. Think I've covered the high points . . . tank is 24" long by 21" high by 18" deep, so vaguely cubelike.
