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Having a lid cut, what's the best option ?

stu_

stu_

Member
Joined
9 Nov 2011
Messages
554
Location
Gloucester
Hi
i'm looking to have a glass lid cut to fit over my open top tank, 5mm glass thickness.
What's the best option, cut to sit ontop of the sides, or narrower & use clips to hold in place?
Is one option better than the other, or does it just come down to asthetics?
It's mainly to cut down on evaporation in the winter months, as the room gets a couple of degs colder than the water temp.

Thanks
 
If you can get hold of the ADA style clips I'd do it smaller personally. I'd prefer to use acrylic though because it can be more easily cut to accomodate for pipe work etc.
 
I understand light travels better though plexiglass than glass and it's lighter and easier to work with, as James suggests. I've used just 3mm and it works fine, but it depends on the size of tank. You also need some vent spaces or gaps otherwise a perfectly cut piece of glass or plexiglass quickly condenses up...

My situation works quite well as the heat from the T5s a few inches above stops the condensation during the day if I decide or forget to leave the covers on.
 
3-5mm Perspex shouldn't bend, has good light transmission and is lighter than glass
 
Thanks for the replies chaps
The tank footprint is 600mm x 410mm & the T8 luminaire is about 100mm above top of tank.
 
I have two equal size 3mm pieces on a large 1800mm tank, so about 900 by 600 each, bending is minimum and it's nice and light weight. It was a compromise choice as I wanted something thin to allow as much light as possible to pass through it as I sometimes leave for work and don't have time to take the covers off. There were two grades of plexiglass available over the counter so mine is evidently the stronger and does not break easily if dropped I'm told. I also have 3mm plexiglass on my ATI unit which comes standard, this bends badly mainly because of the heat and is annoying as it can easily slip out of the aluminium channel, so it must be a different grade or something ? I recently needed some more covers for another large tank, but could not remember if I had 3mm or 4mm so ordered the thicker, I was surprised how much thicker it was compared to the 3mm and this certainly dos not bend. It slides in plastic channels/tracks on this tank and I much prefer it to the previous glass I had. I would suggest 5mm is over the top especially for a 600 tank.

In the first tank described the plexiglass sits on top of the sides, it might not look as neat but is easy to handle and take off.
 
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It's obviously true as you can see it with your own eyes but I'm surprised at that Trevor, maybe your 900 x 600 sheets are something other than acrylic? I still would still recommend at least 5mm.
 
Thanks all.
looks like i'll have a go at cutting some acrylic at the weekend.
Guess i can make the decision about whether to sit it on top,or use clips, when i've got it.....
 
James D said:
It's obviously true as you can see it with your own eyes but I'm surprised at that Trevor, maybe your 900 x 600 sheets are something other than acrylic? I still would still recommend at least 5mm.
Click to expand...
James, it does bed a little sure, but these are big pieces compared to Stu's tank, I just turn it over and it straightens itself, I feel 3mm or max 4mm would be 100s for Stu's tank, 5mm is damn chunky imo..
 
I had 8mm cut for my 60x30cm tank but it must have been poor grade or something because is bowed terribly and because there were cut outs for pipes and stuff I couldn't just turn it over. I have the ada glass clips and I find them a bit annoying as they are easily knocked into the tank or down the back during maintenance. They also provide only a very small lip for the glass to sit on. My favorites are the clear plastic ones I got with the dennerle tanks so I'd try to find some plastic ones on ebay. I'm sure I've seen some on there.
 
I liked the plastic ones but no one does them for 10mm glass, so looked at the ada ones and decided I didn't like the price but the idea was sound so I diyed
005-5_zps0dd43c0f.jpg

Lindy have you tried pinching your ada ones a touch to make them grip the tank better?
 
Just realised,nobody has given an opinion on whether just to sit it on top of tank.
Does it look naff?
 
If it's a perfect match for the top of the tank it's not too bad.

However you'll be knocking it in all the time so I'd make up some clips, cut the sheet to sit inside and the drill a hole so you lift it with a finger
 
but with the built in sag it just drops into the tank again

:D
 
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