Covering An Aquarium, Opinions?

[Ahoy89]

My hexagonal aquarium comes with a plastic cover to place over the rim of the the tank then you can put the black lid (lights installed inside) on top of this. I've heard it's not recommended to completely cover a marine aquarium so would like some advice on this please!


I was planning on keeping both the lids in place but just adding holes for the wires to go through and cutting out an area for the skimmer's waste cup to go in. I won't have any shrimps, snails or crabs climbing out of the tank will I?! This is my main concern!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Some inverts will climb out of the water (I used to have a hitch hiking crab that would sit outside the tank on the dividers between the display and the back filter compartments). A lot of marine fish are pretty bad for jumping as well (I just a clown which managed to jump out of a REALLY small gap in my tank cover).

You could use eggcrate to cover the tank instead of the plastic cover (this is what I use), do a search on ebay for "koi filter grid". This will stop things getting out but let plenty of air circulate over the water surface and not effect the lighting too much.

 

[Ahoy89]

Some inverts will climb out of the water (I used to have a hitch hiking crab that would sit outside the tank on the dividers between the display and the back filter compartments). A lot of marine fish are pretty bad for jumping as well (I just a clown which managed to jump out of a REALLY small gap in my tank cover).

You could use eggcrate to cover the tank instead of the plastic cover (this is what I use), do a search on ebay for "koi filter grid". This will stop things getting out but let plenty of air circulate over the water surface and not effect the lighting too much.

Ah that's a nice idea! I've just let my mum know about the possibility of some getting out (obviously not pleased with this!) and recommended a mesh net to go around the sides of the aquarium that can be attached and detached because there is a velcro seal I have put around it. Seems to be a decent idea and I can't see anything escaping from there!