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Rimless/Coverless Tanks


Val
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I started keeping fish 30 years ago with, of course, goldies.  I had a trio in a 29g tank.  Eventually the bug hit and over the next five years I came to have a pair of 55s and two 29s.  Toward the end of this time the internet arrived and I spent a lot of time at AquariaCentral and reading Wetman's blog.  Over the next five years, I discovered that I really don't like the maintenance required to keep 170 gallons and that I could kill even the easiest of plants.  I gradually downsized to just a single 55g tank which I have since learned was maybe 62g.  (It was German, I think, maybe 250 liters.)  I happily kept goldies but rarely ventured on line anymore because the experts tell me that my tank is way overcrowded.

Fast forward 20 years and I happily have a single 55g with goldies.  I am not a hobbyist per se.  I have simple goldies and I just like the movement and color an aquarium brings.  Which means I am way behind the times when it comes to advances in keeping fish.

Which brings me to coverless tanks.  When I got started evaporation was the bugaboo.  It was bad.  Water may evaporate, but the minerals and metals in the water do not, so with every gallon of water that evaporates, the metals and hardness of the water supposedly increased.  And if you're doing a water change you're not taking out as much water as you're putting in.

So... covered tanks for me.  It was practically a mantra.

Coming back to the hobbyist side of things -- like finding this forum -- and rimless tanks are all the rage.  Riddle me this:  what's changed?  Why is evaporation no longer feared?

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It might be because of plants? Planted tanks are way more popular, and plants are constantly pulling things out of the water. Maybe that - along with water changes - can minimize the issue? Probably best to add an ato (or a lid), but it evidently isn't an issue.

edit: I think there might be an influence from the competitive aquascaping world. Scapers will set up their perfect rimless tanks, run them for a few months, get that perfect picture, and take the tank down. maybe we try to emulate that, but don't consider the different timelines. But, there are also many successful, long-term, lidless aquariums, so maybe not

Edited by HudsonH
new idea
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On 2/7/2023 at 5:45 AM, Val said:

Riddle me this:  what's changed?  Why is evaporation no longer feared?

I hear you. I think it's part aesthetics - those rimless tanks do look really nice to me, and being able to clearly see down into the tank is nice. I also think it has to do with the trend toward planted tanks - more water surface exposed to air means more gas exchange (oxygen/co2). I also know that some instagramers take the lids off their tanks before filming/taking pictures, and then put them back on. Others just leave them off. 

Personally, I have to have a lid. It just gets too cold in the winter where I live, and I have cats - w/o a lid not only would I get a bunch of cat hair in my tanks but also, a cat might wind up in it, or drinking from it, or pawing the water, etc.

Good point about evaporation and minerals - maybe the water is soft? 

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Purely Aesthetic for me, and I currently have only a 29g, 50cm cube, and a 10g tub. 

I like building some sort of natural lid over time with floating plants. Also I don't wanna clean the lid and any sort of stuff grows on them over time, and my water has high kh and I dose equilibrium, so the water leaves so much white residue on glasses that are so hard to get rid of. Water splash on lid would be really annoying.

Rachel O'leary also keeps most of her tanks without a lid and her fish looks great.

I usually do weekly water changes anyway, and other than that, all I have to do is toping up the water once in the middle of the week by just putting some prime and that's just it. It is easy, unless your tanks are really big tbh. I personally haven't noticed anything building up really, as I also have  densely planted tanks, they use stuff nonstop for growth anyway. But for bigger tanks or if you keep a lot of tanks, it might turn into a chore yea.

The only side effect I face is, potential dust going in. But  keep my all tanks in my bedroom, and I always keep it dark and the door closed as I don't spend much time there anyway, so it is mostly not active there during day time. So no really a lot of dust ending up in the tanks. But this would be a different scenario if I kept it in living room without a lid for example.

Edited by Lennie
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I think rimless tanks look cool and "almost" invisible, as in: you're not looking at a tank, but a snapshot in time, etc. 

The reason I don't have one after recently purchasing a new tank is I've seen my fish breach the surface to flip or attack a piece of food. I imagine waking up one morning with a prized specimen on the floor! 

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