Lid or no lid?

[joelfernandes]

Hello everyone.

I'm new to the hobby and still have a lot to learn. As part of the bumpy journey of cycling my tank, I was advised by some folks here in the forum to get some floating plants. I ended up getting some duckweed since, in the store, they told me that it would grow fast and could survive almost any water parameters. I like the looks of it, so that's what I got.

It's not growing as much as I expected, especially after seeing online how quickly these replicate. I know lighting is a big factor, and I have strong lighting. I also learned that water movement prevents fast growth as well, so I'm assuming that is a factor. However, in a bit more than a week, I haven't seen any replication and started wondering if it's because of the lid I have in the tank (a black plastic lid). Honestly, I would much rather remove the lid for aesthetic purposes, but I'm concerned about having fish jumping out of the tank. At the moment, I have dalmation mollies, neon tetras, a small angelfish, an endler livebearer, and guppies.

Can I get rid of the lid?

 

[Rocky998]

Lids can be very beneficial.
#1 they can prevent foreign contaminants from entering the water and #2 they can prevent fish from jumping out of the tank and finally #3, it will prevent most all evaporation. Which means that your water level won't drop a lot.

 

[Benji k]

Idk I have kid on my 34 gal but not on my 4 gal it dosent worry me but the smaller one dose evaporate faster without lif

 

[Rocky998]

Idk I have kid on my 34 gal but not on my 4 gal

How do you make your kid stay on there? I'm glad you also don't let them be on the 4g... May break then.

 

[Benji k]

Hahahah I was typing to fast what was I even talking about

 

[Benji k]

Yeah lid on my 33 gal not on my 4 and 4 gal does evaporate faster. ther we go.

 

[Rocky998]

Yeah lid on my 33 gal not on my 4 and 4 gal does evaporate faster. ther we go.

Btw, for future reference there is an edit button to fix grammar issues.

 

[Benji k]

Btw, for future reference there is an edit button to fix grammar issues.

Yeah I’ll use that next time

 

[Lynnzer]

The endler is probably the only one prone to escape the tank. I've lost a few of them. The others should be OK.
If you want quick plant cover then try water lettuce. If it gets going you'll end up selling the extra back to the LFS

 

[emeraldking]

In potential every fish can jump out of the water...
A lot of my tanks are open tanks.

 

[Benji k]

Yeah mine haven’t but I don’t have it all the way tilled

 

[jaylach]

First I would think 'a little over a week' to be much too short of a time to judge what the plants are doing.

As to a lid I always use one but don't really have a choice. Without a lid I'd constantly be putting my rope fish back in the tank. If you would like the appearance better without a lid you can come close while still having a lid. Have a piece of glass or plexiglass cut to fit the tank. You mow have an almost invisible lid. If you did this with glass I'd recommend using tempered glass as it is more resistant to breakage. Also you would want to mount some small spacers/pads around the top edge of the tank so there is still some air flow and the tank does not become totally sealed. Without the pads the top would tend to move around.

 

[Circus]

I have lids on almost all of my tanks now, but they used to mostly be open to the air. Duckweed goes crazy with or without, but with a lid I occasionally have problems with my frogbit. Without a lid I also find myself doing a water level top off midweek between water changes.

It can take a couple of weeks for a plant to really settle in and take off, so I would recommend giving it another week. And just remember, once you get duckweed you can't get rid of duckweed.

 

[Byron]

Some aquarists insist on tank cover, some do not. There are issues though with no cover. Water will cool faster (in winter in cold climates this can be significant), water will evaporate faster (leaving behind dissolved substances so this is not comparable to a water change), evaporating water will affect the structure of the room (think of bathrooms with humidity and no ventilation), dust will accumulate on the surface and can be detrimental to the necessary gas exchange, and "objects" including cats can get in the tank!
'
For 30+ years I have always had a cover on my many tanks. So long as it is not almost sealed, it will not affect plants on the surface.

Edit to add (forgot earlier)--all fish even cories and loaches will jump out given a "spook" from below. I've had this from just forgetting to c lose the front cover after feding, finding dead and dry fish on the floor next morning.

 

[Uberhoust]

I haven't had much luck with floaters, I have had Water Lettuce, Red Root, Water Sprite, etc. The only one that sort of worked for me was the duck weed but that brought a number of other issues with it clogging my filter systems. I think these are good options if they work for you, but they haven't for me (I wonder if my very soft water is part of the issue)

One plant I find worked really well was Jungle Val, Vallisneria americana, the plant has very long leaves that float on the surface giving it much more access to atmospheric CO2, which I suspect means in regard to nitrogen compound treatment makes it is similar to the floaters. I don't know the size of your tanks but in my 37 gallon tall and 75 gallon tanks the leaves cover 80% and 40% of the water surface respectively. If you have smaller tanks the normal vals also can float their leaves on the surface. The jungle val leaves get pretty long, some on mine are now about 5 foot long. They do reduce the light to the tank bottom, After cleaning I do have to arrange the leaves on the surface of the tank in a way that makes sense with the filters and water flow. The angels particularly seem to like the jungle vals and will even use the leaves for breeding sites.

Lids are almost always good. Your fish might not be jumping out now but at sometime something will spook them and some will jump out.