Tops or No?

[Salt1972]

Do you have a top(s) on your display tank?

I can't imagine the inconvenience, but I'm also fearful for the loss. After our recent chlorine incident where we lost all fish, we've had all the loss we care to for a while. Without trying to be overly dramatic, the thought that we may have lost another last night during a carpet surfing incident cost both my wife and I a lot sleep.

What do you do? Tops or no? How do you get around overflows, auto feeders, and other ins/outs? How do you set it up for convenient maintenance / upkeep?

We had a carpet surfing scare last night with a new mocha clown. I checked the tank before bed and couldn't find one of our new mocha clowns. Just as I was about to conclude she'd found a new hiding place, I saw her on the floor. Almost dry. I held her in front of a powerhead for 2 minutes thinking it was a hail Mary shot... just as I was about to give up, she twitched. Another 2-3 minutes of resuscitation and she began swimming erratically - upside down and in spirals. About 15 minutes later, she began to behave normally. This morning she seems fine. Near miss.

My wife said she may need the screen as much as the fish.

 

[member 99594]

I am going to go with a custom “plastic” screen. You can make one to go around your pipes if needed.

 

[cmcoker]

My quarantines have eggcrate cut to fit around the filters and such, with 1/4in netting ziptied to the bottom of the eggcrate. Wrasses and other small or torpedo shaped fish could easily go through the crate alone.

My rimless display has a window screen kit with plastic netting that sits on the top with some plastic brackets glued to the bottom to keep it in place. I used a corner protector (clear plastic piece you see in buildings to protect the paint on corners from dings) for the back edge to allow pump wires to run.

I lost a McCoskers wrasse to jumping when I forgot to replace the lid immediately after maintenance. It was too late when I realized he was missing :(

You can also get one of those fancy acrylic and netting lids custom made with notches, and red sea just came out with a kit that has different corner pieces and bracing to allow for cutouts as well.

Glad you found the clown before it was too late!