[Samper]

It took a lot of tedious measurements and I couldn't have done it without those pliers in the last pic. It fits perfectly and even with all the holes I put in it I feel 98% better about stopping the possibility of jumping. It does block a little light and I associate that to the thickness of it. I may endure the task of sanding it down to about half the thickness that it is now to allow for more penetration.

enjoy.

[Samper]

I just took a second look at the pics and in one of them it appears that plastic shavings are floating in the system. It also looks like I left a bunch of jagged edges but I can assure you...I cut it away from the system and there are no plastic shavings in it. I went back and fourth to make sure my marks were correct but if you're gonna cut this stuff it's best to do it outside. I also took the time to make sure there aren't any jagged edges only bumps where I cut the squares away from the rest of the crate. Anyone have any suggestions to improve light penetration? I'm still positive I have enough but I don't wanna be firing this big bulb for only 3/4 or so of it to be shining through.

[scubadude]

Most Excellent!

Not only is this good for jumpers Chuck, but its also a great idea for lighting acclimation if you get a new coral and are afraid you have too much light from its comparable last home then you can put squares of shade cloth ontop of the eggcrate to photo acclimate your coral and slowly taking them off to adapt slowly.

Anyone have any suggestions to improve light penetration

Absolutely!

Do like I said above...get you some scraps of different percentile shade cloth...usually @ garden nurserys or @ hardware store. and cut holes out of areas that you know you have light loving corals and you suspect you want more light. Use the shade cloth to cover the holes. I would cut the holes bigger even, or make less holes but make them bigger? Definately keep playing with your design though!

[Samper]

These pics are the final product. I miscounted one row of holes and ended up with that mishap you see in the middle. I have enough to make 3 more but I won't need all of it. I plan to recut another this afternoon and fix that mistake.
Thanks for the tip and I know this isn't a new idea just wanted to show what can be done with $10 and 10 minutes of time.

[The R/C Man]

Hey Samper!

I did a similar thing to my tank after I found my blue spotted jaw fish laying on the floor half dried up at 5am. Since he managed to live through the ordeal I added the egg crate. It completely covered the tank. Two nights later he jumped through the 1/2" squares. By the time I realized he was already jerky. I left the eggcrate on for a while after that and lost a lot of color on the corals so I took it off. Since then I don't buy jumpers. Although with my current canopy surrounding the top it should be ok now...... I hope you have better luck than I did.....

[Samper]

I know I'm not getting quite as much light as I used to but I'm still getting quite a bit.
Here's a pic of the final product and a junk one of the system. This camera has no zoom and can't handle my light. I think you still get an idea of the penetration though.

[The R/C Man]

You can definitaly tell the difference from where you cut out the center portions and the light on the sides of the tank. You shoultake two pics back to back. Take one with the egg crate then pull it and take another from the same distance just to compare. I know that the egg crate by its self diffuses 25% of the light going through it. It will be interesting to see the difference.....

[dougc]

I had a sleeper goby jump right through eggcrate. Fortunately, I was standing in front of the tank when it happened, so I just scooped up the dust-bunny and dropped it back in the tank, no worse for the experience.

I wouldn't put eggcrate between the tank and lights. It will seriously cut the amount of light getting to the tank.