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Maker of this aquarium?


Aqua junky
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I lost a big 22" Arowana and also an Oscar once to jumping where they jumped up, hit a solid glass cover and killed themselves. Conventional tank covers give fish next to no jumping room and if they're prone to jumping they will hit the glass, possibly injure themselves badly and even die. To prevent that I've started making my own tank covers out of the 3/4" PVC trim boards that are nine plus inches wide. Here are a few photos of the one on my 30 high. The PVC will never rot or decay and the fish get about 8" of jumping room before they hit anything too solid above them. I just use a sheet of clear acrylic atop the trim that I caulk in place. You lose a bit of light transmission by the lights being higher, but you save the fish. It's especially good if you're trying to keep butterfly fish, hatchet fish, archer fish, or the like. The PVC can be pricey but it works like wood, never rots, The surface of it is white which makes it a nice reflective surface on the inside and is paintable on the outside. Construction is super simple. You just cut the boards to the size you need, glue them together at the corners, add some trim PVC (I used PVC quarter round molding) to hold the acrylic and you've got a tank cover that's safer for the fish, easy to work in, looks good, and does everything you need a cover to do. And you can make it whatever size you need. I just use a saber saw to cut out the door to whatever size I want, add a pair of cheap small hinges from Walmart, use some scrap, leftover PVC to back up the door to block excess light leaking out around it, add a knob for the door, and it's done. The fish have room to jump and are less likely to hurt themselves jumping. They cost me around $50 to make depending on the price of the PVC at the time.  I've got that type of cover on my 30 high, 20 high, 50 gallon, and 10 gallon quarantine tanks. I wouldn't use anything else these days. Holes for things like heaters or HOBs are easy to cut out using a saber/jig saw.

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