Quote:
Originally Posted by
florida joe http:///forum/thread/382174/jumpers/20#post_3333809
Try fitting egg crate over the top of your tank to cut down on the odds of you having a fish jump out
This is one of the few times I'm going to disagree with my esteemed friend Mr. Joe.
I have personally seen sand sifting gobies and a flasher wrasse aim right through the 1/2 inch egg crate. There are just too many fish who would consider the egg crate as nothing more than a minor challenge to jump through. When my $50.00 flasher did it, I changed tactics.
Get thee to thy local big-box hardware store....Lowes, Home Depot, whatever. Go to the outdoor garden section first and look for outdoor pond netting. It's usually right near the chicken wire, plastic guard fence stuff, etc. Most places will have it in grey or black, and you can also usually order it online in CLEAR if you want. Regardless of color, you want the 3/8th inch weave. I know, this is just 1/8th less than egg crate. Bear with me.
Pond netting in hand (or on order), go back inside the hardware store. It's cold out right now, after all. Trip on down to the screening materials isle. Buy yourself a couple DIY screening rails, a package or two of corner pieces, and the correct sized splining material. Buy a spline tool if you don't have one - they're cheap, and MUCH easier to use than trying to pack the spline in yourself.
The pond netting, screening materials, and tool are going to set you back about $35.00 for most aquariums. I don't know how it is with your stores, but this is only about $10.00 more than a similar amount of egg crate where I live. Well worth the extra small investment.
Go home, measure the inside lip of your tank. Cut your rails with a dremel or fine tooth miter saw.
Make sure to take the size of your corner pieces into account!!! Assemble the frame, test fit it, and congratulate yourself for a job well done...so far.
Open your bag of pond netting. Realize how much netting you just bought, and consider the fact that you'll have this stuff for as many future tanks as you want. Seriously, they really pack this crap in the bag. Cut out the first rough sheet of net. Yes, I said "first," as in, "first of two." Don't get ahead of me now. After your first sheet is cut, pull out more netting and cut another sheet so the mesh lays DIAGONALLY to the first sheet. This will take a larger rough cut, but you get the idea. Your goal here will be to make sure that every square hole will have at least one line of the top sheet bisecting it somewhere.
Put your frame on the floor upside down, then lay your two sheets of pond netting down. Start at one side (I prefer to star from a long side) and press the spline material into the groove, making sure the netting is trapped tight and taught under the spline. As you work around the frame, try to make sure there aren't any sags, warps, or ripples in the net across the frame. You're not being judged on neatness here, but remember YOU will have to look at this every day. After you've secured the mesh in the spline, trim the excess as close to the spine as possible.
>When it's all done, set it on the tank, pour yourself a tall one, and survey your new practically un-escape-able aquarium. Feel the surge of pride in knowing you "Did It Yourself." Go outside and pound on your chest a little, but...put a sweater on first. The cold, remember?
Here's another benefit of framed pond netting. You know that plastic guard stuff that we use for the back of glass aquarium tops? Cut the bottom "grip" off of that stuff, and you can superglue the plastic guard to the back of the aluminum frame if you have odd-shaped equipment back there. It's the perfect way to make sure you don't have any spaces big enough for a fish to kamikaze through.
I use black netting, only because I was impatient and didn't want to wait to get an order of the clear stuff in. The light reduction is negligible, and I doubt even an anorexic firefish could jump through the net. But don't take my word for it.....look at the purty pictures. Hope this helps! At the very least, hope it was worth a laugh....
