How to cover a 4 feet rimless tank?

[Filet-O-Fish]

Hi everyone,

I intend to get a cover (glass or acrylic material) for my 4 feet rimless tank.
Many may ask rimless is cool looking and neat. Why cover it up?

Well you see, the main reason is my fish. I have about 15 Congo Tetras which have grown quite big and are getting boisterous.
They seem to think that anything that floats in the upper part of the tank, warrants an immediate investigation, be it leaves or shrimps ( Yamato / Red Cherry shrimps).

The congos always seem to chase the shrimps that are swimming by or if they're sitting at the tip of stem plants or wood. These poor shrimps naturally try to make a quick getaway and sadly most of them exit the tank.
Just one month back, I bought 20 Yamatos and within a short period of 2 weeks I have seen half of them dead on the floor. The same goes for my RCS.

Since I'll be fixing lily pipes (both intake & outtake) and T5 light sets, I'm kind of confused on how to go about doing this. Furthermore, I have not seen any ready made cover for a 4 ft tank in any LFS.

Hope you guys can advise me on this.
Cheers.

[skytan]

I have seen online some hand on cover support for braceless tanks
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Shaped something like that so you put a few , then custom a piece of acrylic and place on top

[Filet-O-Fish]

I have seen online some hand on cover support for braceless tanks
_
| |__

Shaped something like that so you put a few , then custom a piece of acrylic and place on top

Hi skytan

Yes I have seen those clips in Fishy Business. How about light intensity from the T5s passing through the acrylic cover.?

Will the acrylic become brittle or turn yellowish over time?


OH btw, I like your Acsii format for showing the cover clips. Cool.


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[Urban Aquaria]

Yes I have seen those clips in Fishy Business. How about light intensity from the T5s passing through the acrylic cover.?

Will the acrylic become brittle or turn yellowish over time?.

Acrylic has high light transmission rate so any reduction in light intensity getting through is minimal... though they do tend to warp and discolor or get scratched easily over time.

The alternative is glass panels, or more specifically low-iron high clarity glass (due to their higher light transmission properties), those would encounter much less warping, no discoloration and are not as easily scratched during usage.

You'll need to drill sufficient ventilation holes across the cover panels though, mainly to allow evaporation and reduce heat build-up inside the tank.

The other option is to DIY a plastic or metal frame cover with fine netting, that would solve most of the light transmission and ventilation issues, though it may look abit less elegant.

Something like this:



Source: http://www.aquariumchatter.com/199/c...uarium-top.htm

Check out the source article link above, it has a good example of using those insect screen frame assembly sets to create the aquarium cover. You can buy those assembly sets at most local hardware shops.