To cover or not ot cover ?

[Guto]

Hi everybody !

I have NO fluorescent tubes lying over my tank glass covers.
Thursday I'll receive my new MH pendant reflector that I will hang from the ceiling (I have no canopy).
My question is: Do you think i should let my tank covered, or should I let it open ? In the second case, how did I convince my fish to don't jump out of my aquarium ? (I already lost 3 that jumped out in small open spaces)

Thanks for your opinions, and sorry for my bad english !

Guto.

[jsaltzgi]

If you are going to cover the tank, I would recomend using an acrylic lens, like many of the prefab hoods use. All types of glass, even starphire, distort the light(some more than others- starphire the least :-)) Acrylic allows more high energy, short wavelength light to pass. Depending on how far above the cover the halides will be, tempered glass may be your only choice :-(

Another alternative would be to build an open canopy around the top of the tank. This might look odd with the lights hanging from the ceiling, but it would be an option to keep jumping fish in. Good luck!!

[Chicago]

fyi starphire allows light tranferance of 89% while acrlyic is 92% if i remeber correctly..i'm pretty sure acrlyic is only slightly ahead