Tank Covering: What, How, When and Why?

Tank coverings to prevent fish jumping..

  • I keep my tank covered 24/7

    Votes: 525 65.1%
  • I keep my tank covered most of the time

    Votes: 48 5.9%
  • I keep my tank covered at times

    Votes: 15 1.9%
  • I don't keep my tank covered at all

    Votes: 166 20.6%
  • I have a covering but don't use it

    Votes: 35 4.3%
  • Other (please explain in the thread)

    Votes: 18 2.2%

  • Total voters
    807

Dragon52

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The only time I move my lids are when I go to feed thawed Frozen food to the tank. still have to be careful because my BT trigger & my wrasses go nuts when they see me approach the tank.
 

esther

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1. Is your tank covered? If not please tell us your reasoning.
Absolutely. Have three wrasse's and clowns. Definitely don't want them to jump & die.

2. How do you have your tank covered and are you happy with the solution you're using?
We made our own custom lid for our @Waterbox Aquariums with the D-D Jumpguard Pro.



3. What do you dislike about having to keep your tank covered?
Nothing. I love that all my fish will stay alive. lol
 

saltyhog

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Both of my tanks are covered unless I'm feeding or doing maintenance.

My main DT has acrylic/mesh lids. I swapped the clear mesh for black. I also cut a piece of egg crate to cover the center overflow since there is a gap between the mesh and the top of the overflow. That prevents fish from jumping in to the overflow.
Octolids.jpg


My nano also has a screen top....pretty unobtrusive IMO. I love it because my barnacle blennies are definitely jumpers.

FTS 7-16-20.jpg
 

alorrick

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Well! This is a very interesting topic!

Speaking of the devil! I swear!

Well prior to last night. Nope. Nothing. Didnt want it didnt see a reason or need said mine would never. And momma always said never say never....

My mandarian dragonet jumpped out last night for no real reason. In fact none of my fish are really jump scared or fast fish in the open top tank. Infact everyone is chill and slow.

But on the larger tank the flow and everything made speedies sometimes jumpies so i put a topsies on it.

As for the nano. heck no. Well that changed.

My favorite fish jumpped and was found hard as a rock thismorning im royally peeved. Sitting next to the nano is the lid i need to finish making from outdoor window frame and brides vail netting.

But now regret never building and adding.... lesson learned on a gorgous dragonet raised from a tiny guy and taught to eat frozen foods.... sadly an expensive mistake......
 

Cell

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Covered 24/7 except when I forget to put it back on after feeding or cleaning or moving stuff around or poking at something or lately crushing vermetid snails...
 

FishGeist

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Covered as well.

I created a custom solution using 1/2 inch PVC glued frame with Spiderline fishing line interweaved through the pipe, works well. Took 2 days of threading fishing line through tiny holes drilled in the PVC for 2 lids but it works.
 

BadAsh

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Not covered but the only reason Is I have a bowfront and I can't find a mesh cover that will fit it and the curve makes the kits I have seen dubious at best. Have lost a fairy wrasse to jumping.
 

Doglips56

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Today let's talk about covering our aquariums to keep our fishy friends from becoming fish jerky on the floor!

If you've ever lost fish to jumping then you know how disheartening and frustrating it can be. Sometimes even with a covered tank you'll have a fishy escape artist to find a way out and down on to the floor! So....let's discuss it!

1. Is your tank covered? If not please tell us your reasoning.
Definitely have lost too many. 1 is too many and I’ve lost a few even with covers.
2. How do you have your tank covered and are you happy with the solution you're using? We have a 6 ft tank that cam with a canopy and single screen top. It was I’ll fitting and we were too inexperienced to realize that. We have some serious jumpers now so we custom made 3 separate lids (1 for ease braced section) complete with zip tie handles and custom openings fo tubes/wires, etc. so far no losses!!

3. What do you dislike about having to keep your tank covered?
It’s a hassle but not as bas as losing one.


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happyreefer101

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Just received a RedSea DIY cover kit from BRS. Especially nice with a $20 coupon. Thanks BRS. Should have done this sooner to save a diamond goby and a six line wrasse.
 

carmodpg

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My fear with glass covers was my wonderful carpet surfing wrasse who has a death wish, my fear was he was going to kill himself hitting the glass top. As he would come up hard. So I switched to nylon.
My wrasse has shot up like a torpedo out of the water into the glass top and has never been injured (nor learned from its mistakes). I haven't seen an attempt with the new mesh cover, but I am worried that it cannot contain the beast.
 

Emerson

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I didn't used to keep a cover until I had a sailfin blenny jump three years ago. After that, I built and installed a DIY screen cover from BRS; works great. I keep it on 24/7 except during maintenance and feeding.

Specific to my set up, because of the weir on a ghost overflow, there are two 1' x 3/4" gaps in two spots along the back of the tank. These are mostly "covered" by a tunze fan and an auto feeder. That said, I just had a wrasse jumper last week... I don't know how they do it. It is not impossible that he was scared and jumped while I was doing some coral pruning and I didn't notice him go. What a drag.
 

Mark Bradley

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Had the Redsea diy cover - always annoyed me as couldn’t get it as good as on the video! Now have customer made one. Adds to overall look of tank - no downsides from me.
 

tonyvan

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My tank is a hole in the wall with the tank body in the garage so appearance there does not matter too much. I have sliding net curtains hanging from the ceiling and attached to the side of the tank so any jumpers will bounce back into the tank. Theoretically they could lie on the rim if they stay motionless but I reckon they would wriggle sufficiently to fall back into the tank.
 

Creating a strong bulwark: Did you consider floor support for your reef tank?

  • I put a major focus on floor support.

    Votes: 26 40.0%
  • I put minimal focus on floor support.

    Votes: 15 23.1%
  • I put no focus on floor support.

    Votes: 22 33.8%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 3.1%
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