Glass tops or not?

[Warpigdave]

I keep going back and forth on glass tops. I thought it might be interfering with my par levels and was ready to switch to a mesh or egg crate. But when i took my readings my par came out 5-10% higher with them on. Which leads me to believe that if they are clean they don’t interfere even with yhe droplets that collect on the underside. So now I’m wondering is there any benefit to mesh tops. My water evaporates pretty quickly as is and I don’t want the hassle of topping it off even more.

 

[Peace River]

In addition to light diffusion and evaporation, you also need to consider air exchange. Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[JNalley]

I ran a 55 FOWLR tank with glass tops back in the day. It slowed Evaporation, but since I like a lot of surface break, my glass tops had to be cleaned almost daily due to salt creep making them look like frosted glass in 2-3 days (Edit: On the backside of the glass!)... I'm now running a screen top and find that with an ATO this is my preference.

 

[Chrisv.]

I've checked with a par meter and can confirm that as long as the top surface doesn't get salty/dusty there is less than 5% drop in par, even with full condensation.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I have glass tops on my two 150 FOWLRs— I think evaporation would be cRAzY without them. I have a skimmer to help with oxygenation.