Egg Crate Tops on tank

trigger11

trigger11

Member
Do the egg crate tops just make it so the fish would have a harder time jumping out of the tank while allowing CO2 exchange?
Or,
Do they cut down on evaporation? I just recently switched from having a mostly covered 60G hex tank to a regular 55G that does not currently have a top. It is evaporating water like crazy with the MH light on. I'm trying to figure out how much of the top of the tank I can cover. I have read having a glass top completely cover the top is not a good idea. But I would also like to cut down on the evaporation.
Any thoughts would be welcome.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
only benefit to eggcrate is the possible prevention of fish from jumping while allowing gas transfer.
that being said, my jawfish jumped through it.
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
HAHA that's priceless. Couldn't have timed it any better than that

The only benefit of having egg crate tops is so fish don't jump out. You will have a lot of evaportation with this.
With a solid lid your tank temperature will be higher, and less light will penetrate into the water (since water condences on the bottom of the cover). The positive side being you won't have to battle with evaporation.
I would like to know if there is any way to combat evaporation.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by LexLuethar
HAHA that's priceless. Couldn't have timed it any better than that

The only benefit of having egg crate tops is so fish don't jump out. You will have a lot of evaportation with this.
With a solid lid your tank temperature will be higher, and less light will penetrate into the water (since water condences on the bottom of the cover). The positive side being you won't have to battle with evaporation.
I would like to know if there is any way to combat evaporation.

Evaporation is a good thing
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
HEHE i know evaportation is a good thing, i just wasn't sure if there was a way to cool the tank w/o losing as much water. I just have a dinky 30 gallon tank so i don't have to use much water to top off, but i can't imagine for a 100+ gallon the amount of water you have to top off per day.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
i put in a gallon a day into my 75, but i also have pc's. i'd end up getting an ATO with metal halides.
 
am00re34

am00re34

Member
i just recently added a fan to blow over the water on my 55 to keep it cool in the summer and i add 1-1 1/2 gallons a day due to evaporation. Kind of annoying!
 
trigger11

trigger11

Member
Thanks for all of the replies. Well, a chiller is certainly out of my price range. If I were to add a second Halide bulb I probably would have to have a chiller for sure. I dont have anything in the tank at the moment that requires the halide lighting but the corals sure do seem to like it. I am leaning towards covering about 2/3rds of the top with glass. And then leave a section open to get some CO2 exchange.
 
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