Covering Tank

[bigdave2009]

must i keep my glass lid on the tank. I have a light that is mounted with legs on the tank. The fish do not jump out, but would is encourage plant growth, or kill plants? or do nothing at all?

 

[rdd1952]

You definitely don't need the cover but there are a couple purposes it serves other than keeping the fish from jumping out. First, the more openings in the top of the tank, the more evaporation you will get. So you may see the tank level dropping much quicker betwen water changes. Second, it also keeps dust, dirt and other contaminants out of the tank. As for whether it will help the plant growth, I'm not certain. I wouldn't think it would matter much unless there was something in the glass that blocked part of the "rays" so to speak.

One other thing (and I have no idea on this), can shrimp not climb out of the tank if it isn't covered? I found this on bamboo shrimp but don't know how accurate it is. It says they climb filter outlets to get near the highest water flow so it would stand to reason that they could climb the glass to get out too.

Edited for spelling.

 

[waterdrop]

man, RDD is always very thoughtful and thinks of the most important things!

I suppose a glass/plastic cover also serves to keep the excess splash/spray off of your stand/furniture/outer-tank-surfaces along with the accompanying bit of mineral crust after the spray evaporate.

waterdrop