Did you know...

[Rybren]

that mandarins are jumpers?

Bummer 

[dan2x38]

Strange... never had one but I did here that. Someone else posted about lossing a bottom dweller I think is was clown goby. After my wrasse jumped and he was rescued I add some black egg crate to the top.

[cdylnicki]

Yeah... I lost my female spotted mandarin last month due to jumping.

*sigh*

[pt109]

I lost my psychedelic mandarin last week. Had him for at least 4 years.
He somehow made his way through the egg-crate that surrounds my overflow,
and was lying on the horizontal piece of egg-crate that I have inside my overflow.
He was all dried out - must have been there a day or two.

Looking to get another tho' - guess iI'll have to wrap some acrylic screening around the outer egg crate.

Yours in mourning....

[dan2x38]

I attached a piece of egg crate at a right angle to the egg crate that covers my thanks. I attached it with zip ties. The piece I attached lines up over teh edge of my over flow so nothing can get in there now. Nothing has showed up in my overflow since I added that works great.

[Rybren]

I found my guy about 2' from the tank.  Talk about a good jumper.

I'm not crazy about using egg crate for a cover.  I find that it blocks a lot of light and the holes are large enough for fish to get through - there are lots of tales on RC about folks having fish get through the crate.

I spent the night building a cover out of 3/16 - 1/4" ish plastic mesh.  I mounted it to an aluminum windowscreen frame.  There's a 2-3" strip of crate at the back of the tank to allow for power wires and the return line.

I'll try to post pics tomorrow night.

[dan2x38]

I have a clam, anamone, open brain to a name a couple that are doing great under egg crate. I do have a 6 bulb Tek Light over it though. But I hear ya about the EC I wish I could leave it open...

[Rybren]

I have a 4-bulb ATI on my 75.

When I was building the cover last night, I had egg crate over one side of the tank and the mesh screen over the other side.  The was a very noticable difference in light levels - the egg crate side was significantly darker.

[ramblnpony]

Are we talking about green or gray plastic mesh/acrylic screening that goes on a screen door or something else? I would like to do the same on my tank. 

[Rybren]

The screening is a grey, plastic, chicken wire.  The openings are 1/4"x1/4". 

Here are some pics...

From the front of the tank



Showing the eggcrate at the back



From the other side....

[JetJumper]

Love it!  That looks awesome.

[dan2x38]

nice job I still wish we could go topless...

[Cbellehumeur]

Very Nice!!

[Rybren]

Thanks guys.  One of these days I'll get around to painting the frame black.

It was very easy to build.  The hard part was finding the screening - it took me a month to find something that was the right size.  Now I have 50' of it 

[dan2x38]

I know someone who would buy some... moi... 

When I saw you idea I was thinking you could use egg crate as the frame.. mine is already black. Then attach it with fishing line or even epoxy it in place with 5 Minute Epoxy or silicone.

[Rybren]

Dan,

No problem for the screen.  I'll save some for you 

My original plan was to attach it to eggcrate with black zip ties - there's a member here on OVAS who does just that.  Then I saw a thread on another forum where they used aluminum window screen framing.  I just happened to have 2 old window screens in the rafters of my garage.  I pulled them apart and went to work.  I find that it makes for a cleaner install, but because I have an over-the-top return and PH wires, etc, I needed a way to work around them.  My solution was to use a strip of eggcrate along the back.  I'll still have to cover the eggcrate with some screening - just in case...

[dan2x38]

Yeah I thought about the zip ties but wouldn't want them visible. Besides I must be clumsy. If something is sticking out I will rip a hole in my hand on it everytime. I find those sharp ends are always waiting for me... LOL

I have a C2C so keeping the egg crate over it would still be needed. I also found my Pink/Blue Goby in there twice so I devised a way to keep him and others out. I used zip ties and attached a row of egg crate at a right angle that lined up over the edge of the overflow to prevent fish or inverts from getting in the C2C. It works great. Besides I like tinkering and DIY. You can get different coloured screen door frame pieces too they aren't expensive. Can't be that much more than the coloured egg crate at Rona $22 for 2' x 4' piece.

LMK I would like to get some from you to play around with some sort of setup. Could hook-up at Fish Tail one day. I hate losing any of the expensive light we pay so much for. But I also hate killing fish and losing the big bucks they cost us. It seems it is the most expensive ones that you loss - Murphy's Law.

[Rybren]

I saw brown screen framing at a couple of places, but no black.

I'm off to Quebec City on Sat. to look after my mother-in-law.  I'm not sure when we'll be back, but if you're in this end of town before then, shoot me a pm to see if we can set up a time.  I'm just south of Place D'Orleans.

If not, we can get together later.

[dan2x38]

Just LMK when your back. Yeah it would be cool to find the black frame.

[ramblnpony]

"The screening is a grey, plastic, chicken wire.  The openings are 1/4"x1/4"." Thanks for the info! Not to put a damper on that beauty job with the frame but I just wonder how safe the aluminum is if it oxidizes green? Are you sure it is safe?