DIY lid...

[CrabbySquirrel]

Is plexiglass the material-of-choice for a lid? Seeing that I'll be at Lowes anyway to pick up my play sand, I was thinking of picking up some plexiglass,too. Does anyone know if they'll cut it to size for me? And what about holes? Just how much air circulation does there need to be? Lots of holes, just a few?

[KellyCrabbieLove]

They cut my glass for me for the sliding glass lids I made for my 55. Give them a call. I haven't heard of it before but I also never asked.

[gotta-crab-em-all]

If you use plexiglass and intend to have heat lamps, I would go with real glass. I used plexiglass for a snake tank cover very briefly and his heat lamp warped and melted the plexiglass within an hour of getting it set up.

[CrabbySquirrel]

Is real glass going to be expensive?

Also, here's the problem I see: the 55gal that I got has a support/cross bar running through the middle -- hence leaving 2 "half sections" to cover (hope that makes sense without a picture). So I would need to pieces of glass, not just one.

The 2 sections created by the cross-bar are also indented, or sunken in a little. If I place a piece of glass there, it's going to fit nicely in the indentation, but how am I going to lift it up every day? Also, can you get holes drilled in glass for ventilation?

(sigh), so much to learn and research.....

[KellyCrabbieLove]

Is this your permanent tank or a temporary one? The temp lids I made for ny 55 were flimsy and I ended up breaking 2 of the 4 parts. It was a cheap cover though and did the job. It wasn't my final tank so I didn't want to buy custom glass. Since my tank now is my final tank I bought custom glass from here http://www.dullesglassandmirror.com/store/csts2.asp it is expensive. For my 125gal I paid $103 for 1 of the 2 piece because I had a corner removed to give me the ability to put my humidifier hose and bubbler tubing into the tank. No corners is a lot cheaper. I am going to take glass to a local glass company and bring handles with. They can drill holes to attach a handle. You can't use a heat lamp over glass or plexiglass.that is why I only bought glass for 1 side until I figured things out and didn't need the lamps. I am about to order my other side with 2 corners off for ventilation.

I can't believe how amazing the custom glass looks.

[gotta-crab-em-all]

The cheaper alternative is to get a mesh lid that would fit the tank already, and tape saran wrap across it to hold in humidity (with holes cut out for any lamps you might have, because they'll melt the saran wrap) and put tin foil over the saran wrap (with the same holes cut out around the lamps) to help insulate the heat. You would have to make sure to leave holes for ventilation, though. I did this for my 10gal, 20gal, and 29gal and it worked fine. One side of the lid of my 75gal has this done, and the other side is a piece of plexiglass.

[CrabbySquirrel]

That's kinda what I do with my current 20gal setup. I have a mesh lid covering the whole thing, with about 50% or so wrapped in Saran Wrap, and a dish towel over that, covering about 75% of the total top. Then on the uncovered 25% of the mesh, I have my heat lamp shining in there.

Since there are 2 distinct areas to cover (either side of the cross-brace), I suppose I could do one side glass, and the other side mesh --- or just cover the whole thing in mesh, like you said, and wrap the heck out of it...

KellyCrabbie - thanks for letting me know that you can't use a heat lamp over glass or plexi - that bit of info helps. I have a feeling my UTH won't be enough, especially in winter, so I'll have a heat lamp on one side, and at least that side will have to be mesh....and this is my permanent tank.

ETA: man, I really didn't think this 55 gal thing through enough, I think....this lid thing is stressing me out.

[CrabbySquirrel]

What do you guys think of something like this? Would this work?? It looks SO cool!

http://youtu.be/BNFMyJw4aFI

The only thing I can't figure out is how she attached the PVC runner along the top of the tank....but she includes all the supplies she used, and apparently this whole project cost around $20. She also includes a link to the original DIY post - I followed it and they step by step instructions with pictures, also....

The lady in the YouTube video leaves about an inch of space in the back of her project to allow for tubes, etc.

[YYWW]

I did this! But mine is nonpermanent. The trim sits on the sides and the plexi keeps em "on track." Extra pcs are used as support at the back and front, the front pcs double as handles. My own exp: at less than 1/4" thickness (not sure on exact thickness) the 82F+ and 95%+ cause my lids to bow. My lids are about 22" across, a piece. I need to flip the lids 2x every day or else they'd prob collapse into the tank.
If I were fixated on this setup, I'd use acrylic rods to reinforce my lids so they can stay straight.
These DIY sliding lids are definitely cheap as long as you procure the panes at a low price. It is easy as long as your shop can cut it for you. Measure properly and factor in the space that the trim will take up. Cutting 1/8 inch off an edge is ansolutely no fun!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CrabbySquirrel]

YYWW, a few followup questions - why acrylic rods? Why couldn't some other kind of support be used like wooden dowel rods, or ???

I went to Lowe's today and the guy in the glass section didn't recommend me using the glass they sell there for anything but picture frames. 2 guys, actually - and they both agreed that their glass is cheap and easily broken -- he said he would be VERY worried putting it on a tank. So I opted to not get any.....

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and at least get one side of the lid at Petco -- Tetra sells flip-up glass lids that exactly fit half of my 55 - they are about $20, and with a coupon I have, should be a little less. For the other half, probably the acrylic temporarily....ugh, this is turning out to be the hardest part of the upgrade (so far).

at least I have my UTH and sand now!

[YYWW]

The rods just keep it pretty plus acrylic being resistant to staining and rot/ moisture..
I had gotten a flip up glass lid for my 25 gal and it was awesome, but the humidity got too high and i got a lot of condensation. Sooo i cracked it while drilling holes in it.......
I'm going to be ordering custom cut glass and cutting my own hinges for it, to make my own hinged/flip up lid. The hinges are available for different thicknesses of glass, so my hunt is on for thick, reasonably priced, thick glass that will fit the hinges ️


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CrabbySquirrel]

Got something similar to this at Petco today: http://www.amazon.com/All-Glass-Aquariu ... r+aquarium

It's the "Tetra" brand - but it looks just like that. There's a coupon out there for this weekend that is a "spend $25, get $5 off" at Petco - and I got the glass canopy for $20 and let the kids pick out a decoration for $5 to get to the 25 total. (Now I'm hoping the decoration is OK - it's a little plastic/resin pot with fake plastic plants sticking out of it)

And now everything is sitting in my living room, just waiting for setup. Hubby is sick right now and can't help much with the moving around of heavy stuff -- I'm HOPING that tomorrow we can get at least the 20g moved, and the 55 in it's final place, instead of just sitting on the floor.

[YYWW]

I think i had ordered that same product. Fantastic, til i ruined it my only gripe was that it didnt let thru enough ventilation. I ended up putting in a computer fan for circulation, but i still have more condensation and moisture than i'm comfortable with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk