To hell with the Red Sea DIY Screen Top w/ FIX!!

[arking_mark]

I love the look of these tops and how they fit flush with the tank. After PAINstakingly building the frame I figured the netting and spline would be less work. How wrong I was!
1. After beginning working the spline and tearing the netting and being way more careful and making it a quarter of the way through and tearing the netting, I bought the more hardy netting on BRS.
2. Being way more careful with this hardier netting and slowly (hours) of splining and having trouble keeping the netting square and TEARING the netting. How frustrating!

Solution: forget the spline and just use zip ties! Way quicker and easier to get a square and tighter fitting netting.

A couple tips:
1. Work your way lengthwise and get everything square to start.
2. Once you have it started use zip ties to sort of pin the screen in place (except the end), just keeping everything square and even.
3. Trim the netting and then slide the zip ties to tighten everything up.
4. Add/remove zip ties till everything is neat and tight.
5. Final trim the netting.
6. Netting may gape down between zip ties a little and be noticeable in the front. Use black tape or hot glue gun.

I'm just cleaning up zip ties and taping down netting...and I'm done.

 

[dmy535]

Good idea... ya the spline was a PITA! Definitely thought the cuts would be hardest part, but yes it was the netting... difficult in 90 degree corners too. Not too happy with how it looks in the corners of the turns, since I had to make a few for light brackets etc. maybe I’ll redo it with your method.

Question: does the zip tie create less room between glass and frame? I made mine pretty snug where there is not much wiggle room.

 

[Ranjib]

Thank you for sharing this.

 

[arking_mark]

Good idea... ya the spline was a PITA! Definitely thought the cuts would be hardest part, but yes it was the netting... difficult in 90 degree corners too. Not too happy with how it looks in the corners of the turns, since I had to make a few for light brackets etc. maybe I’ll redo it with your method.

Question: does the zip tie create less room between glass and frame? I made mine pretty snug where there is not much wiggle room.

So I cut mine to Red Sea spec. The zip ties made it an almost perfect fit and I just had to trim one end by about 3/16". Now the fit is absolutely perfect. The zip ties take up the gap perfectly and no metal touches the glass and the lid is actually snug.

 

[arking_mark]

Using the zip ties allowed me to even make a nice super taught area for this netting hatch.

By aligning the zip ties with the screws it works perfectly.

What's nice is I've been able to quickly adjust and remove slack in the net by just removing, sliding, and adding zip ties.

 

[ReefHunter006]

Using the zip ties allowed me to even make a nice super taught area for this netting hatch.

By aligning the zip ties with the screws it works perfectly.

What's nice is I've been able to quickly adjust and remove slack in the net by just removing, sliding, and adding zip ties.

What is that little hole/latch looking thing and where do I get it!?

 

[ajjw0828]

Neat aquatics feeding hole. Have them on all my nets. Awesome product. Got mine on BRS.

 

[LegendaryCG]

I much prefer the Innovative Marine kit to the Red Sea or BRS.

 

[arking_mark]

Neat aquatics feeding hole. Have them on all my nets. Awesome product. Got mine on BRS.

Same here. Makes feeding and anything else super easy!

 

[arking_mark]

I much prefer the Innovative Marine kit to the Red Sea or BRS.

Probably just aesthetics between the two. The Red Sea Lid is a little more streamlined as its frame is a little thinner and sits in line with the glass on tabs. In the IM version, the frame is a little wider with a flange that rests on the tank. The IM looks sturdier and a little cleaner as the top is flat without the recess that the Red Sea has. I like the Red Sea version a little better, but wish they used a flat top like the IM version.

 

[blackadonai]

The next time you have to make a screen this little tool might help a lot with the spline. I know I found it very helpful when I had to fix all the screens in my house as a kid because my dog destroyed them all

 

[arking_mark]

The next time you have to make a screen this little tool might help a lot with the spline. I know I found it very helpful when I had to fix all the screens in my house as a kid because my dog destroyed them all

I used a very similar tool. The issue is with the fragility of the screen material. In trying to keep a taught cover, you (or at least myself) was unable to keep from tearing the mesh. Maybe others have been more successful.