plexiglas or glass cover

[mikegerard]

Hi all-
I have a glass top cover on my 55 gallon salt water aquarium.

I just moved it and my son broke the glass on one of the cover pieces . I was looking at it and the cover is just two sets of glass, each set has two pieces of glass with a piece of plastic that holds them together.

I was thinking about replacing them with plexiglas so I don't need to worry about them breaking if one of the kids drops them too hard, etc. Plexiglas would be less likely to break, but I'm not sure about how it might affect my lighting.

Any opinions?

Thanks,
Mike

[Samper]

The best thing that could have happened was them getting broken. Open top is always best to vent heat and for gas exchange unless you have jumpers and then you can use eggcrate.

[Reefland]

Hi mikegerard,

I agree, the glass tops are not the best idea for a saltwater aquarium as it impairs the gas exchange needed in the tank. What kind of fish do you have? If you don't have any "jumpers" then you would be safe to remove the cover completely.

[mikegerard]

Right now I just have two clowns and a sail fin tang. Based on their behavior and their usual location near the bottom of the tank I don't think they are jumpers.

Thanks,
Mike

[Reefland]

Yeah no problems with jumping out of those fish. Go ahead and remove the tops completely.