Covering tank - Who uses eggcrate/light diffuser?

R

RLS

[Greetings All:

I want to cover my tank to keep fish from jumping and was considering eggcrate, although I am concerned that it will reduce the amount of light reaching the tank. I would appreciate any feedback from those with experience using eggcrate and any suggestions concerning other materials/methods. I currently have 2x96 PCs on a 40 gal breeder.

Thanks,
Robert]
 
[I had an eel about a year ago, and I used eggcrate to keep him from getting out. Eggcrate does not block much light at all, especially not enough to cause any negative effects. Make sure you either get the all white or black eggcrate, NOT the chrome. The chrome chips off and can cause problems to your tank param. Many reefers use eggcrate, so go for it.]
 
[I think the white egg-crate is suposed to acually increase the light or make it spread better or something...]
 
[Hmmmm, you could prolly make a covering out some velcro and bridal veil material from Hancocks. Or just make a box frame and tack/glue the material to the frame and set that on top of your tank or on the tank lip. It would be easier and lighter to manage than egg crate, 'ceptin' you can just drop flakes through the egg create. The bridal veil material comes in various mesh sizes and certainly cheap enough...
just a thought...]
 
[If your canopy is closed on three sides and only the back is open, you can cut and fit the eggcrate to fill that void. Fish would bounce back into the water. :upside:]
 
[I put eggcrate on the top of mine after one of my Cardinals carpet surfed about a month ago.

I have seen no noticable changes in the light or my animals!]
 
[Thanks everyone for the feedback. :beerchug:

I think I will go with the eggcrate until I can build a canopy. Unfortunately I don't have access to the tools to build one at this time. :(]
 
[If I remember right (as funny as it sounds) eggcrate actually has a direction. It was originally designed to diffuse light from florescent fixtures so when installed upside down the diffusal pattern is different and lets less light through. Look at the flourescent fixtures and how the eggcrate mounts, the edges of your eggcrate should have a lip which prevent them from falling through a fixture. This is how it should be installed (or so I was told).
Now with all that said I can't really say that by looking at the crate I can see any noticible difference in the material to suggest or backup these claims. Nor do I have a light meter to test or validate these statements.]
 
[Egg crate used to be thicker and more heavy duty than what I'm seeing these days. Those guidelines may no longer apply...]
 
[Yah, I thought egg crate with a "this side up" had grooves along the inside edges of it all, I'm not seeing this on the sheet I have.]
 
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