Cheap lid for time being....

I am just setting up my 55 gallon salt water tank. I hope its ok I have used tap water and 4 caps of prime. Day 2 I added and mixed my salt day 3 I added my first live sand. My question is... can I use tin foil to cover the tank for the time being. I was going to get some custom plexy glass cut at lowes hardware however not sure if that will bow down I have the 49 incher 55 gallon tank. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

You could try the plexi, I have done projects with it and if you buy it thick enough it won't bend too much... that gets pricey though. I would recommend getting real thin stuff (like 1/4 or 1/8 inch) and just glue strips of wood to the top of it tall and up to keep it from bowing.

 

Why would you want to cover your tank? An open air top allows for greater oxygen exchange. If you're concerned about fish jumping out then you could purchase a product called egg crate.

 

DIY screen top by BulkReefSupply - fast forward to 2:10

 

Thanks for the replies!

I just wanted to cover it becasue of bugs like flies and dust getting in the tank. Not that my house is dirty just normal debris.

Another question off the topic... has anyone ever heard of liverockranch ? They seem to have the best deal on live rock and its from the fl keys.... was going to use them as I do not have any live rock yet. Sugggestions please

 

I have found that bugs like flies getting in isn't bad at all, in fact my tetras adore a nice insect meal every once in a while.

 

I am just setting up my 55 gallon salt water tank. I hope its ok I have used tap water and 4 caps of prime. Day 2 I added and mixed my salt day 3 I added my first live sand. My question is... can I use tin foil to cover the tank for the time being. I was going to get some custom plexy glass cut at lowes hardware however not sure if that will bow down I have the 49 incher 55 gallon tank. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

You shouldn't need to use 4 cap fulls of Prime unless you have some really bad water - each cap full treats 50 gallons. Yes thin plexyglass will bow some but not that much but the thicker will not, I use cut glass to cover parts of my tanks and it is cheeper than plexyglass around here.

 

mike: thanks for the info the bbb sure doesn't like them. Deal too good to be true? Maybe just base live rock then I should try from them? I don't have proper lights for coraline algae just yet.

bowcrazy: will this hurt the tank ? I was told to do that from aguy that works at a local salt water store in my area.

 

No you can't over dose with Prime so it will not hurt anything, I just think it is a waste of money to dose times 4 if you don't have an ammonia or nitrite problem. Normally a double dose will take care of any chlorine or chloramines. The only time I might even think of dosing that high would be if I had just cleaned it with chlorine bleech and then I would fill the tank and double dose and let it set an hour or so and then empty it and fill it again with a double dose just to make sure the chlorines are gone.