Gas Exchange

[splash]

Someone told me that it is good to have the lid open on your aquarium so that air/gas can exchange. Would it help even more to leave lid off. I know it would probably evap faster but would it have increased benefits? I am not concerned about suicidal fish.:notsure:

 

[belothsurf]

Good question. It's probably more important to make sure that you have adequate air/water exchange. You can have the top of your water exposed to air, but if it's not being "moved" in any way, or you don't have a protein skimmer, which injects air into your water, you may "not" have enough O2 in your water. But just leaving the top off, is not going to make any difference. Get a powerhead that gently disturbs the surface of your water, and you'll be ok, regardless of wether you have a top or not. If you do happen to have "suicidal" fish, go ahead and tell them to jump, just make sure you have a container of sw for them to jump into....they'll thank you later. :hilarious

 

[mmcheeto]

Handleing heat issues in the past I toyed with the idea. I put a an intake and output fan in the cabinet where the fug/sump is and noted a 5degree decress and a 15%evap add. I took off the class cover form my hood and pointed another fan between the light and the water serface. This caused about 3degree change and another 5% add ot the evap rate.
On a 90gal tank I was going threw alot of water and there was added salt creep from not having the lid. I didnt remove the entire top though. The glass lid was remoe but the wood top was still on leaving the backside of the top exposed. This was just a little time spent figuring out what adding to the gas exchange did to my tank. That was the result. Hope that helps a little.