Glass lids

[fonduecat]

I will admit, I feel a bit silly asking this.

Since I set up my system I've had glass lids on it to prevent evaporation, prevent the goby from jumping to doom, and prevent the cats from 'fishing'. I currently don't have an ATO set up and am able to manually top off what is needed. Is there more of a benefit to leaving the lids off vs. keeping them on? Does anyone have experience with any fluctuations in their tank when taking lids off, or putting them on?

Thank you!

 

[ReefCheif]

Lidless is better for sure. Youll have better gas exchange and PH control, Im sure there are other reasons as well.

 

[Munch]

Glass lids will help keep down evaporation, but will also block light from your systems lighting unit. I prefer to extra top off over the diffused light effect.

 

[fonduecat]

Glass lids will help keep down evaporation, but will also block light from your systems lighting unit. I prefer to extra top off over the diffused light effect.

That's actually something I haven't considered. My coral growth has been exceptionally slow. I'm wondering if the lids may be a contributing factor. May need to do an experiment....

 

[SkyShark]

You can build a screen top very easily yourself. Get the clear mesh like what BRS sells, but get the actual frame pieces from Home Depot or lowes (way cheaper). This will likely not hold a cat, so that could be a problem for you.

 

[fonduecat]

You can build a screen top very easily yourself. Get the clear mesh like what BRS sells, but get the actual frame pieces from Home Depot or lowes (way cheaper). This will likely not hold a cat, so that could be a problem for you.

That's a good idea. The goby and shrimp sometimes have domestic disputes and the goby threatens to jump out. The mesh would prevent that. Won't prevent kitties, but if I move the closest table away that may remove that risk. I'll check out BRS. Thanks for the good suggestion!

 

[fonduecat]

Hello, I just wanted to update and share.

I took the lids off of my tank and so far I'm doing okay without an ATO, I'll need to get one soon. So far I can tell a huge difference in the xenia and mushrooms I have in the tank. Taking the lids off was a great move. Even though I had a kessil on those corals, the lid was blocking enough it was preventing a lot of growth. I hope in a few months I'll see an even bigger difference. Thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[ThatsDeep!]

Glad that this has worked out for you. We also are new as of the past 6 mo. and found that removing our glass lids solved a problem with heat getting a tad too high in summer. Kip [my husband] put ballast cut to fit so that our long nose hawk would stay in the tank, but the result has been that temp is no longer an issue and lighting is much more effective for corals. Nice not to have all the salt creep to remove from the glass as well.