Carpet surfing!!!

Well guys bad news.. My first fish loss occurred overnight, my 3 inch Niger trigger managed to get out the tiny gap (1/4inch) at the back of my tank. Now yes I am going to address this problem asap.
2 questions.. Is it best to have a glass top with just gaps for power cords to come out of or best to make an eggcrate or flyscreen top?
2nd question is more based on peoples opinions, what should I replace my Niger trigger with? I currently have 2 clowns, 1 longnose hawkfish, 1 flame angel, 1 blue tang and 1 red coris wrasse. I also have a few corals so what does everyone recommend as a replacement/s?

 

Use egg crate - the glass will prevent air water oxygen exchange.

 

Won't that just allow more evaporation up into the hood and onto my lights? Not important? I can get eggcrate for free from work and cut it to size so that's simpley done.

 

evaporation is something we all have - just top it off.

Happy reefing

 

no worries than.. Eggcrate top is easy to do, I shall address that issue once I go back to work on Tuesday, any suggestions on fish anyone? Can't make up my mind

 

Triggers arent normally a reef safe addition. The coris wrasse is also not a reef safe addition so if you plan on making this a full reef than he may need to go. Really pretty fish though.

As for something else how big is your tank? What types of corals do you plan on putting in? How about clean up crew ?

 

If you have a hood why not just use egg crate or screen to block off all the gaps in the hood so you're not putting something between the lights and the water, that way you're not losing any light? Also if you don't have a couple fans in the hood to blow air out that might be a good idea too to keep heat/moisture out of their.

 

I am a fan of the glass top. I have heard of fish making it through egg crate but never a glass top!

Also on my tank the water doesn't go all the way to the glass so there is air between the water and glass. I can't see how that would prevent oxygen exchange (the glass lid certainly isn't air tight) Also if you have a protein skimmer that is providing a lot of gas exchange and oxygenating the water.

Sorry about your loss.

 

My tank is a 2 foot cube, beleive it's about 55 gallons or so. I have a sump and protein skimmer, I also have two powerheads so good flow, and between all that there should be good oxygen exhange? There are no fans in the hood but I only have a twin t5 light setup and the hood is open at the back for ventilation so I'll see how that goes.
I'm pretty sure the wrasse will be gone once I can catch him! At the moment I have a torch coral, an elegance coral, large rock of green star polyps, some kinda tree looking coral(soft) and an assortement of frags(candy cane, zoas, Duncan, flavia sp.)
At the moment there is pretty much no clean up crew in there besides some hitch hikers, I'm awaiting my lfs to get stuff in, than I'll be getting an assortement of snails and maybe some small hermits. Also once the wrasse goes either a cleaner shrimp or coral banded shrimp?
What fish do you think would go well in my setup?

 

+1 on the glass top.

For those of us without automatic top off devices in our sump, having a glass top on the aquarium helps maintain a consistent water level (and thus reduces salinity fluctuations), and it prevents massive evaporation, which in general, isnt good for any room in a typical household unless you have some major ventilation system getting rid of that humid air. I used to run a topless aquarium, but was losing 1gallon a day in evaporation, and imo, thats like tossing 1 gallon of water on the floor in that room and letting it evaporate on a daily basis. (Can't be good for the walls, ceiling, etc). Massive humidity like that can cause damage- and once again, unless you have awesome ventilation, try to figure out another setup.