Last night I bought a glass top and strip light for my FOWLR aquarium...

[theweirdo]

...this morning, someone told me that glass tops are bad for aquariums because of heat exchange, evaporation, or something like that. It's not too late, I can still cancel the order, but I will lose some money. So, what I want to know is if a glass top and strip light would be ok for my FOWLR 75 gal.?

 

[theweirdo]

anyone there?

 

[jonny bolt]

They are a pain to keep clean, salt creep loves glass tops lol. You could keep it and just keep the front lids up, but I wouldnt use one. Might want to think about a different lighting system than a strip light and ditch the glass top idea. I stopped using my glass tops on my 72g bowfront once I got my Orbit light....

 

[weberian]

I have a friend with a 46-gal bowfront with a fully closed top except for the opening for an Emperor 400 power filter. He has reef setup and is doing fine, so you should be OK. He doesn't even have a protein skimmer for oxygenation and he's still growing all kinds of things fairly well. How big is your bio-load and do you have a skimmer?

 

[theweirdo]

I have a skimmer, but my tank isn't completely cycled yet (skimmer isn't turned on). My bio-load will be fairly big when I get the fish, though. (a small puffer, a young niger trigger, yellow tang, and a wrasse my friend is going to give me.)

 

[weberian]

Sounds like your glass top should be fine. Skimming plus powerhead surface ripple will give you plenty of Oxygen. Low evaporation is a good thing, IMO. If your strip light is a normal output (NO) fluorescent, then it will not be producing a significant amount of heat, so heat build-up in the tank should not be a problem.

 

[alyssia]

I never used my glass tops until I had a fish go carpet surfing.

 

[sharkbait9]

ok I have to reply to this. I had glass tops on my 55g and I kept reading back and forth about this, this is a real hot topic. yes or no, no maybe just yes or no. So I was able to find "egg crate" I.e. light diffuser for over head lights. So I cut it into shape and I have to admit, the egg crate is really the way to go. You get good air exchange has knocked down my salt creep a whole hell of a lot, not this constant cleaning of the salt off as the dried salt was blocking light. So I’m another believer in egg crate instead of glass canopy.

 

[jacknjill]

ive used glass tops for years and i have no problems, except saltcreep, which really is no big deal. i have metal halides and no problems with temperature, and they cut WAYYYY down on evaporation thank god. keep them

 

[birdy]

I don't like glass tops for reef tanks, but for FOWLR there is really no problem with them, if you don't mind cleaning them off.

 

[oreo12]

I have the glass tops on both my tanks no big deal take them to the bath tub and wash them off once aweek when you change the water. I have pc lighting no heat problem. I tried going with glass tops a while back and the canopy rotted out from all the evaporation. I have too much time and monney in my stand and canopy to let it rot. If it is not to late you might want to get pc lighting you will want it some day anyway trust me.