Carpet Surfing

[catfisher]

I'm starting to get really frustrated with my fish jumping out of the aquarium. I had a yellow coris wrasse jump out a few weeks ago and this morning I found my spotted hawkfish on the carpet. Is this normal? The only semi aggressive fish in the tank is a cinnamon clown but I never noticed him going after them.

[Raibaru]

Both of the fish you listed have a track record for being jumpers. But it's not unheard of. I've never had a successful jump, but I've heard my fish bounce off the acrylic shield on my light before.

[masonicman]

Try egg crate over your tank. I use it alone the back of my tank for this same reason. My canopy hood is open in the back.

[EllieSuz]

A lot of smaller fish can jump right through egg crate. I lost a Diamond Goby and a juvenile Clown that way. You can make a dandy, attractive cover quite easily. Have a look at this one:

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk179/EllieSuz/TankCover.jpg

If you're interested, I'll be glad to share the details. I picked up the idea from another reefer here.

[catfisher]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13408412#post13408412 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EllieSuz
A lot of smaller fish can jump right through egg crate. I lost a Diamond Goby and a juvenile Clown that way. You can make a dandy, attractive cover quite easily. Have a look at this one:

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk179/EllieSuz/TankCover.jpg

If you're interested, I'll be glad to share the details. I picked up the idea from another reefer here.


I've always heard you shouldn't cover a reef tank (cuts down light, builds up heat, etc...)

[catfisher]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13408412#post13408412 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EllieSuz
A lot of smaller fish can jump right through egg crate. I lost a Diamond Goby and a juvenile Clown that way. You can make a dandy, attractive cover quite easily. Have a look at this one:

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk179/EllieSuz/TankCover.jpg

If you're interested, I'll be glad to share the details. I picked up the idea from another reefer here.

Interesting cover, how did you make it?

[Raibaru]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13408925#post13408925 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by catfisher
I've always heard you shouldn't cover a reef tank (cuts down light, builds up heat, etc...)

Well they use egg-crate or some other mesh type material so it doesn't have an impact on the heat. People have been moving away from egg-crate and going toward the type of material linked above because egg-crate does knock out a great deal of light.

After all, it's sold as light difuser :)

[EllieSuz]

It's made from DIY screen kit, available at Home Depot and 1/4" pond netting. You apply the netting to the screen frame with rubber spline, just like you were making a window screen. The frame pieces are aluminum and you can buy plastic corners to make a rectangle. Some reefers use bird netting which, in my opinion, doesn't work for the smaller fish, although it can be doubled. I have a bunch of the netting left over because there was a minimum order of 6' x 14' and I only needed 36" x 12". I have sold some to other members for a nominal price, plus shipping or you can look at the following link:

http://www.watergarden.org/s.nl/it.A/id.152/.f?sc=2&category=43357

It's pretty simple and inexpensive and makes a nice professional looking cover.

[pbradley0]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13408964#post13408964 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Raibaru
Well they use egg-crate or some other mesh type material so it doesn't have an impact on the heat. People have been moving away from egg-crate and going toward the type of material linked above because egg-crate does knock out a great deal of light.

After all, it's sold as light difuser :)

Have you seen anyone test the PAR reading on a tank with and without the egg-crate? It seems to me that eggcrate would do relativly little to the light.

[LockeOak]

I would imagine a lot of the impact from eggcrate depends on whether or not you're using a point source for light (halides) or fluorescents. It seems like eggcrate would create more of a spotlight effect with halides. Low angle light from the halides will get blocked by the "tall" egg crate, while the T5s are mostly shining straight down through the eggcrate.

For what it's worth I use T5s and eggcrate.

[pbradley0]

That's a good point. I imagine MH and eggcrate probably would create an unusual shadow pattern in the tank.

[Runfrumu]

I made the DIY screen door cover for mine a few weeks ago. feel a little better now and may get a few wrasses in the near future. Lost a diamond goby and a foxface to jumping.