Tank cover

[Doug and Lois]

This may be a dumb question. Are there any problems with using acrylic as a
tank cover with the light hood above it? In other words, will the acryllic
filter out any important light wavelengths? Is glass better or worse for
this purpose and why?

Just curious

Doug

[reefman MC]

Well my suggestion alway is to go topless. It causes good gas exchange
when you have no top, but it will also cause alot of evaporation. I'm
not sure about your question about the acrylic. All i've ever known is
for people to use glass if they're going to have a top.


--
reefman MC
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[Richard Reynolds]

> This may be a dumb question. Are there any problems with using acrylic as a
> tank cover with the light hood above it? In other words, will the acryllic
> filter out any important light wavelengths? Is glass better or worse for
> this purpose and why?

just a plane sheet of acrylic will eventually bend in the middle, heat it up and the
process takes less time.

--
Richard Reynolds

[Benjamin]

I have some 100 year old glass panes that are thicker on the bottom than on
the tops. Just thought I'd point out that glass is a liquid also. Even so,
I'd use glass over acrylic any time. As for open vs. closed top. I can
see both sides of the debate... so I run half tops. The wavelength
filtering properties of glass or acrylic over a reef tank can get real
complicated fast.

--
--

My Web Site: http://showcase.netins.net/web/reefpage/


"Doug and Lois" > wrote in message
...
> This may be a dumb question. Are there any problems with using acrylic as
a
> tank cover with the light hood above it? In other words, will the acryllic
> filter out any important light wavelengths? Is glass better or worse for
> this purpose and why?
>
> Just curious
>
> Doug
>
>

[PaulB]

A common urban legend. Old glass is thicker on one end because of the
manufacturing process, it was installed thicker end down because it looks
better that way than random alignment.

http://www.urbanlegends.com/science/glass.flow/



"Benjamin" > wrote in message
...
> I have some 100 year old glass panes that are thicker on the bottom than
on
> the tops. Just thought I'd point out that glass is a liquid also. Even
so,
> I'd use glass over acrylic any time. As for open vs. closed top. I can
> see both sides of the debate... so I run half tops. The wavelength
> filtering properties of glass or acrylic over a reef tank can get real
> complicated fast.
>
> --
> --
>
> My Web Site: http://showcase.netins.net/web/reefpage/
>
>
> "Doug and Lois" > wrote in message
> ...
> > This may be a dumb question. Are there any problems with using acrylic
as
> a
> > tank cover with the light hood above it? In other words, will the
acryllic
> > filter out any important light wavelengths? Is glass better or worse for
> > this purpose and why?
> >
> > Just curious
> >
> > Doug
> >
> >
>
>
>

[Benjamin]

Hmm... Somewhat interesting reading, seems we must have read different parts
though. It does however make me wonder how hot a MH lamp is a at close
range.

--
--

My Web Site: http://showcase.netins.net/web/reefpage/




"PaulB" > wrote in message
. com...
> A common urban legend. Old glass is thicker on one end because of the
> manufacturing process, it was installed thicker end down because it looks
> better that way than random alignment.
>
> http://www.urbanlegends.com/science/glass.flow/
>
>
>
> "Benjamin" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I have some 100 year old glass panes that are thicker on the bottom than
> on
> > the tops. Just thought I'd point out that glass is a liquid also. Even
> so,
> > I'd use glass over acrylic any time. As for open vs. closed top. I
can
> > see both sides of the debate... so I run half tops. The wavelength
> > filtering properties of glass or acrylic over a reef tank can get real
> > complicated fast.
> >
> > --
> > --
> >
> > My Web Site: http://showcase.netins.net/web/reefpage/
> >
> >
> > "Doug and Lois" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > This may be a dumb question. Are there any problems with using acrylic
> as
> > a
> > > tank cover with the light hood above it? In other words, will the
> acryllic
> > > filter out any important light wavelengths? Is glass better or worse
for
> > > this purpose and why?
> > >
> > > Just curious
> > >
> > > Doug
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>

[tech27]

Regular glass has a transmission of about 90% and refracts about 8%. It
will also block about 45% of the spectrum in the 300-800 nanometer range. I
don't know what spectrum you need to know about, but if you can find out
what range (wavelengths) you are interested in, I can figure out the
transmission/blocking numbers for that range