Water level in open top tanks

[lazybones51]

I was wondering how full do most people keep their open top tanks?

Me personally, I have kept it as full as possible without the water reaching the legs of the Twinstar light sitting on the rim. I do this as it seems to make hard water marks less obvious. In 6 months I have had a few Amano shrimp escape and one fish make a jump.

I would be really interested in hearing about other people experiences with water height vs jumpers.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

I keep loose fitting lids on at night in case the cats get interested. Open top during the day though and I keep the level about 20mm from the rim. I did have it higher but I noticed I had a “leak”, capillary action was drawing water out of the tank via one of the clips that support the cover! I’ve not noticed any escapees but if they’ve gone down the back I wouldn't know anyway. I only have shrimp at the moment though.

 

[JoshP12]

As high as it can go! However, I do not have a rimless tank - first mistake - and that bar makes half of my surface get skum (my skimmer is only on one side), if I do not have a little water connection between the two halves.

Evaporation annoys me though - I am getting an Auto Top off.

Josh

 

[rebel]

I keep it almost to the brim. I like the aesthetic. It's bad for fish who are not very bright.

 

[Michael1212]

I keep mine filled right to the brim. When my water quality is bad and when i use a lot of h202 i had a lot of jumpers though.

 

[Nick potts]

I keep mine about an inch from the top, but i have a had a recent spate of carpet surfing shrimp so have had to improvise a lid for the shrimp tanks.

 

[Sammy Islam]

I've had a gourami jump out and quite a few red cherry shrimp, no amanos so far. I now keep my water about 2cm below the rim, also avoids and a little wicking of water by the twinstar SA version if the bracket gets splashed or water level too high.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Mainly brimful, like rebel for the aesthetic.