Advice sought for glass top

[jgolden]

Alright...!

Picked up the 150G from dpatte last weekend, and have been slowly setting it up all week (fishies are still currently in 75G; hopefully will be moving them over this weekend). Tank will again be a med-high planted community tank (have 5X48" VHO, for a total of 550W)

I'm looking at setting up a glass top for it. The tank does not have any center braces at all (Tank is also 1/2" tempered glass). So, I'm looking at the following options. Which would you say would be the best one, and why?

1. Use 2 sheets of 1/4" tempered glass (5' long each), so they span the length of the tank, but I can still open it (I have the plastic hinges found with perfecto glass tops).

2. Use 2 sheets of 1/4" plate glass (5' long each), so they span the length of the tank, but I can still open it (probably weaker than the tempered glass, correct?).

3. Use lucite (stronger than plexiglass, but probably still subjected to the same "bowing" that plexiglass exhibits after prolonged exposure to heat (i.e. sitting under the 5 VHOs).

4. Use lexan (supposed to be 10X stronger than lucite, and not as prone to the heat issue, but have no experience / knowledge about it).

5. Any of the above material, but look at "building" either a single cross brace at 30", or 2 cross braces at 20"...

TIA!

I await your opinions....

Jeff

[BigDaddy]

I know I would personally feel more comfortable with shorter panes of glass and a DIY center brace for them to rest on

[bitterman]

I have 2 pieces 5' across on my tank and would advise against it!

I wish I would have used a glass brace int he center of the tank and used 4 pieces of glass.

Bruce

[PoisonJello]

for a 5 foot tank i would recommend 2 cross braces at 1.5' from each end, have the glass (single piece for each end) cut to fit to the brace, then for the middle 2' have two pieces hinged for opening or you could have all 3 sections hinged to have opening

as for glass, tempered would be less chance of breaking it

[jgolden]

Thanks all regarding the brace question - starting a DIY center brace (gonna go with 1 at 20" and 1 at 40"). Sill undecided between teh tempered glass and the lexan... Any thoughts on either?

[darkdep]

IMHO, go glass.  As much as you will try not to have it happen, the lexan WILL get scratched; and those scratches will fill with condensation and grunge and get dirty and stay dirty...and will be more difficult to clean properly.  Glass, well, when it gets dirty pull it off, pull out the windex and you're back to what you started with.

[bitterman]

I advise again lexan as it will warp and curve when moisture is only on 1 side. I had a top for my 10 gallon mad from 1/4" lexan and ot warped over 1/4" over rthe length of the tank. To make thos work you need to do lost of bracend and bonding of the lexan.

Lexan absorbes water and this causes the warping.

Bruce

[PoisonJello]

most glass lids are not made with tempered glass, just the cheap plate glass but tempered has less chance of breaking it