Rate My Fish Tank

Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:10 am GMT   Reply      

anyone have any experience neg. or positive with these? Aside from having cats. my room tends to be very dusty. I feel like it would evaporate the water more quickly as well as just having crap fall into it.

I think it's kind of neat to have the water exposed and be able to look at the surface, but again i have concerns. if anyone would comment, i'd be appreciative.

Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:35 am GMT   Reply      

Personally, i think tops are a good idea, for some of the reasons you have already mentioned. But most importantly, to keep fish from jumping out (some species are more prone to this than others). If you DO decide to go w/an open top, i'd keep the water level a few inches below the top.

Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:05 pm GMT   Reply      

I think there's generally more benefit to having a tank capped off. I have a 30 gallon hex shaped tank which I had to buy a special light for my plants on..unfortunately this light doesn't allow for the top that came with the tank.

The most irritating thing about this is that several days after doing a water change and completely refilling it the water level has dropped 2-3" and my spraybar is spraying little water droplets all over my light -- which spots it with hard water deposits and aquarium salt spray and well you get the picture.
Eventually I'm probably going to go to a glass store and see if I can't get a top ''cut'' for it.

If you're all about multiple water changes in a week have at it. The only real benefit a fish would get from having an open top is if the original top fit the tank too tightly and didn't allow enough oxygen in. I'm pretty sure that's a rare case. For plants...if you don't like cleaning the canopy frequently the hard water deposits and spray can build up on that instead of your light and drastically cut down on your watts per gallon. I clean the one on my 16gal very frequently though.

Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:55 pm GMT   Reply      

If you do go for an open top, which I don't recommend because of the above issues, you should be aware that just "topping off" the tank without doing frequent water changes will have the effect of concentrating whatever doesn't evaporate out, like minerals, salts, etc, so be sure to take the time to actually remove a good amount of water, say 1/3 every so many "top offs".

Some water conditioners (dechlorinators) use salt, (sodium chloride) to bennefit the fish's slime coat like Jungle Start. Most don't, but if you do use one with salt, that can concentrate too, and may reach a level too high for the fish you have.

Some (pure) salt is benneficial for most freshwater/tropical fish, but you need to be aware of how much you use.

I've seen nice live coral salt water tanks which actually overflow over all the top edges and down the sides. These tanks need lots of light though, and there is usually a powerfull pendant (hanging) light high enough to not block the veiw, but at a good hight for the corals.

Most tanks look better with some kind of light, so I'm not sure what you have in mind in that respect with an open top.

Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:19 am GMT   Reply      

My planted 55 gallon is sans top. My Coralife CF light fixture isn't compatible with any top so my tank goes topless. I like it because I like the sleek look and I like looking at the water. My water doesn't seem to evaporate too fast. I do water changes every 7-10 days. I have a 7.5 gallon nano that is also topless and it is fine as well.

Z

Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:37 am GMT   Reply      

All of my tanks are actually open top, in that there is no actual glass, plexiglass, etc cover, but you can't really see the water, nor can the fish jump out, because I have lights on top directly over the water. Most of the lights have a plastic "lense" that keeps water off the bulbs, and the reason I don't use a top is because I don't want an extra barrier to light.

One tank only has one light and the cats drink from the space around it.