Glass lids on or off ?

[Shroom]

I have noticed many aquarists without a lid on their tanks. I know that lids help with heat retention and less evaporation. Wanting to hear from some fellow aquarists on why they leave off their lids...

[Steve McKay]

I have noticed many aquarists without a lid on their tanks. I know that lids help with heat retention and less evaporation. Wanting to hear from some fellow aquarists on why they leave off their lids...

OFF!!!!!!!! Canopies and glass tops hold in heat and don't allow for good gas exchange. If you have jumpers get egg crate.

[Chameleon Bob]

Well the reason I started to leave mine off was because I got tired of cleaning my glass lids off of salt and algae every couple days. Then I found out that it lets more light in even when their sparkling clean. As far as evaporation I loose proaly 3/4 more water with my sump then when I didn't have one. And mainly at night always thought that was odd.

[Original Fin]

I have noticed many aquarists without a lid on their tanks. I know that lids help with heat retention and less evaporation. Wanting to hear from some fellow aquarists on why they leave off their lids...

With a recent lighting upgrade, I've gone from fully enclosed with glass covers, to wide open.
I had 40 watts of T8 dual hoods on a 55 gal FOWLR. Now I have over 200 watts of T5HO 10K and actinic with no glass covers. Here's what I've noticed after a little less than a week:

1. It used to take about a week to lose a gallon. Now it's about 36 hrs. Yikes! It's got me thinking about adding an auto top off tank.
2. Brown Hair algae growth has spiked to the point where my clean up crew cannot keep up. Even though taking the glass out of the equation might have had something to do with it, I'm sure the main reason for it was the sudden power increase of 500%. It's a good thing I'm not stocked yet, because the water parameters are having a bupy ride adjusting to all the sudden algae growth that's come with the higher powered lights.

Hope this helps!