Question???? Need some advise...

I have a 75 gallon corner flow reef tank with versa tops, about 170lbs of live rock 90lbs of live sand. Eshopps 100 sump with 20lbs of crushed coral with a second home made sump that's about 8 gallons with an algae scrubber and a 36 watt uv sterilizer. I was researching how to add more oxygen in the tank to be able to add more fish than one inch per fluid gallon. I read that versa tops hold in the gases and doesn't let the water oxygenate which lowers the ph. That seems to be true because my ph is always dropping. Should I keep the tops or get ride of them.

 

removing the tops will certainly help with gas exchange, and oxygenation in general

there are a couple of potential disadvantages from removing top covers IME

1 - fish that like to jump , there are many cases of fish jumping clean out of the tank and ending up on the floor

2 - evaporation will increase thus top off will need to be increased to compensate

3 - salt stains - I have an uncovered tank and even my MH lamps and reflectors which are 13 inches away from the water surface are displaying salt residue from liquid droplets that have dried out leaving the salt behind


Steve

 

go for that plastic egg crate for a top, keeps the fish in, lets gas out

 

Where do I get the egg crate

 

lowes home depot etc, its actually a lighting product! like the drop ins for drop ceilings

 

Home depot it's sold in the lighting department as diffusion

 

Keep in mind this will lower the ammount of light in your tank.

 

and look pretty ugly!

 

What could I use instead of the egg crate that doesn't minimize the lighting?

 

I'd recommend against egg crate. I was using it. Painted black, it didn't look bad... but it did lower the light. On top of it, small fish can still easily jump through it (I know from experience )

I'd go with a screen top (will probably be a little more difficult to make on a corner aquarium, but should be doable) using the netting from BRS