should i get glass covers?

[holdyourlight]

when i had a reef i always just made my covers out of the netting

now that i have went to FOWLR i was thinking about getting glass covers to save some $$ on heating. My tank runs way cold and the heaters run constantly in the winter.

the only thing i worry about is gas exchange because the tank is stocked heavily

the sump is in the basement and will be uncovered

opinions?

 

[Stumped]

What temp are you keeping your tank at currently? For a FOWLR you can run much cooler temps than a reef and your fish will be fine (and many fish would prefer it). Only reason to run tanks at 78+ is for corals really.

 

[humaguy]

yes! corals can't jump out of a tank but fish can!

 

[holdyourlight]

What temp are you keeping your tank at currently? For a FOWLR you can run much cooler temps than a reef and your fish will be fine (and many fish would prefer it). Only reason to run tanks at 78+ is for corals really.

I'm running it @ 77

the house stays @ 69 in the winter so heaters are on all the time

I'd like to get the glass covers but i am just a little worried about gas exchange with a heavy bioload

 

[lhm nole]

I'm running it @ 77

the house stays @ 69 in the winter so heaters are on all the time

I'd like to get the glass covers but i am just a little worried about gas exchange with a heavy bioload

The sump should provide you with enough gas exchange and running a skimmer also helps, if you are worried about jumping you can always build a mess cover. Since you have a fowlr you can always install a bio ball tower those are great at gas exchange imo

 

[psykokid]

you can also use eggcrate for one of the sections of glass if you are really worried about gas exchange..

 

[Stumped]

I'm running it @ 77

the house stays @ 69 in the winter so heaters are on all the time

I'd like to get the glass covers but i am just a little worried about gas exchange with a heavy bioload

Ah, well in that case glass covers are probably your best option.

The only other thing I could suggest if you really, really don't want to put glass covers on would be that you could attempt to insulate around the sump in your basement and put a cover on that (while leaving the tank uncovered/mesh covered). I'm presuming you're losing a ton of heat in your sump because the basement is probably a lot colder than where your DT is. It's worth a shot, but I have no idea how much that would help with the heat loss.

 

[D5HP]

I have glass covers on my current FOWLR and absolutely LOVE them. The amount of evaporation they're holding in is probably incredible.

I actually have a problem with heat here in Raleigh so I have a fan blowing across my sump, which helps with gas exchange. Also, I have a sort of cascading waterfall from the fuge that I'm sure helps.

I say go for it...I use the mesh ones on my reef and these are so much better.

 

[Recty]

I think you could slowly tune your tank down to 72 degrees or so with absolutely no harm to the livestock... you'll find probably with the amount of pumps and light you have that you probably cant get your tank to even go that low as those devices add heat.

The side benefit is you'll have less expense through heat, you'll still get good gas exchange and colder water hold more oxygen, so an overstocked tank will benefit just from the temp decrease on that alone.

 

[holdyourlight]

I think you could slowly tune your tank down to 72 degrees or so with absolutely no harm to the livestock... you'll find probably with the amount of pumps and light you have that you probably cant get your tank to even go that low as those devices add heat.

The side benefit is you'll have less expense through heat, you'll still get good gas exchange and colder water hold more oxygen, so an overstocked tank will benefit just from the temp decrease on that alone.

What if i wanted to keep a carpet for the clowns, what's the lowest temp i could go?

 

[Recty]

Well, Live Aquaria says you can keep them at 72-78 degrees... so it would be worth trying, maybe keep it closer to 73-74 just to be safe.

It would be worth slowly lowering your heater induced temperature and see if you can even get it down that far. Depending on your pumps and lighting, you may not even be able to hit 72.