Sean W.
Active Member
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to show you how I made my screen cover for my tank this weekend. I am really happy with the results. I'm sure some of you may have seen this technique before, but I put a twist on it that I KNOW you haven't seen before.
I had a few criteria that needed to be met for a solution for a covering.
- Inexpensive
- easy to build
- looks good
- doesn't restrict light
- lightweight and sturdy
- allows airflow to easily flow through (from my fans) and allow for gas exchange
- And of course prevent my beloved fish from carpet surfing
Here is what I came up with
Here is a list of the items you will need:
- DIY Window Screen kit
- Extra corners for the frame
- Loofah
- A way to cut the aluminum frame pieces, I used a dremel tool, a hacksaw would work too
- Razor blade
- Large flat head screw driver
- Primer, Paint and clear coat
- A helper
DIY Window Screen Kit
[img[
Extra 90 corners (if you have piping or other equipment hanging over the edge that you need to go around)
A Loofah of your color choice, I went with black
The actual assembly process is very straight forward, I'm sure if you are in this hobby you have some degree of understanding of how to build things, so I'll just cut straight to the chase. I used the loofah material as the screen. If you cut the string at the middle of the loofah that holds it together you're left with about a 9 foot long tube of mesh. Take scissors, cut it to length and then cut down the middle of the tube leaving you with a flat piece of stretchy netting.
You use the frame and the 90's from the screen kit to make a frame, I needed additional corner pieces to go around the piping for my canister filter. Since my tank has a frame and a brace in the middle, I actually made two covers.
For the areas I couldn't get the frame to fit in the extreme corners of the tank, I hot glued a piece of "hardware cloth" in
I wanted to show you how I made my screen cover for my tank this weekend. I am really happy with the results. I'm sure some of you may have seen this technique before, but I put a twist on it that I KNOW you haven't seen before.
I had a few criteria that needed to be met for a solution for a covering.
- Inexpensive
- easy to build
- looks good
- doesn't restrict light
- lightweight and sturdy
- allows airflow to easily flow through (from my fans) and allow for gas exchange
- And of course prevent my beloved fish from carpet surfing
Here is what I came up with
Here is a list of the items you will need:
- DIY Window Screen kit
- Extra corners for the frame
- Loofah
- A way to cut the aluminum frame pieces, I used a dremel tool, a hacksaw would work too
- Razor blade
- Large flat head screw driver
- Primer, Paint and clear coat
- A helper
DIY Window Screen Kit
[img[
Extra 90 corners (if you have piping or other equipment hanging over the edge that you need to go around)
A Loofah of your color choice, I went with black
The actual assembly process is very straight forward, I'm sure if you are in this hobby you have some degree of understanding of how to build things, so I'll just cut straight to the chase. I used the loofah material as the screen. If you cut the string at the middle of the loofah that holds it together you're left with about a 9 foot long tube of mesh. Take scissors, cut it to length and then cut down the middle of the tube leaving you with a flat piece of stretchy netting.
You use the frame and the 90's from the screen kit to make a frame, I needed additional corner pieces to go around the piping for my canister filter. Since my tank has a frame and a brace in the middle, I actually made two covers.
For the areas I couldn't get the frame to fit in the extreme corners of the tank, I hot glued a piece of "hardware cloth" in
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