Top Fin aquarium lids

[Chili_girl]

I bought a 55g aquarium from Petsmart a couple of years ago for my office. It came with some plastic lids with lights built in and I wanted to replace them. I found Top Fin glass hinged lids today half price so I bought a couple.

The back glass panel fits but the front panel is smaller size for some reason. I don't get it. They also came with these weird plastic side pieces. I put them on the smaller front panel but the instructions show to put them on the back larger glass. The back strips came with pre cutouts for tubes and cords which is nice but in the wrong place for my Eheim spray bar so it doesn't work for me. I'll have to cut more openings anyway.

Does anyone know what the side pieces are for? The instruction manual doesn't really say.

 

[johnnyxxl]

Can you share some pictures as I can't find any with what you are describing.

[doktor zhivago]

I've never seen top fin glass lids. Only the hoods. They have weird dimensions on their tanks and nothing fits right

[Chili_girl]

 

[Tlindsey]

On 7/3/2024 at 7:11 PM, Chili_girl said:

I bought a 55g aquarium from Petsmart a couple of years ago for my office. It came with some plastic lids with lights built in and I wanted to replace them. I found Top Fin glass hinged lids today half price so I bought a couple.

The back glass panel fits but the front panel is smaller size for some reason. I don't get it. They also came with these weird plastic side pieces. I put them on the smaller front panel but the instructions show to put them on the back larger glass. The back strips came with pre cutouts for tubes and cords which is nice but in the wrong place for my Eheim spray bar so it doesn't work for me. I'll have to cut more openings anyway.

Does anyone know what the side pieces are for? The instruction manual doesn't really say.

 

Hopefully this will help. @Chili_girlhttps://youtu.be/-2r2kpjnGBs?si=n9CYBgxAfXwac6Kx

[Chili_girl]

I saw that video. Doesn't help but thanks anyway. On mine the two panes of glass are different sizes. Doesn't make any sense. Maybe why they were on sale for half price. You get what you pay for. I think I'll return them and either order custom glass from Binswanger or figure something else out. Don't think I'll ever purchase tanks from Petsmart for this reason. I do appreciate your attention though.

[Sacah]

My guess would be making the front panel smaller means it'll always be easy to open, as it won't get stuck on the edges. The plastic side bits you have on the smaller panel will help it sit above the edges. As for the back plastic panels, they look like all 3 together cover the whole back glass panel, and then you can take 1 smaller one off if you have pipes, or 2 smaller ones off if you have a HOB, and move it around to suit your needs.

Interestingly when I did a search for Topfin hinged lids, they are just 2 pieces of glass and both are the same size, so I don't know what you bought (-:

[Tony s]

On 7/4/2024 at 7:39 PM, Chili_girl said:

On mine the two panes of glass are different sizes. Doesn't make any sense

Give me a couple of hours. I bought one yesterday. 

[johnnyxxl]

I think that the side thing is to keep the top from going inside the tank.  Personally I made my own tops using polycarbonate greenhouse panels and a saw.  But I have an 80 gallon tank.

[Whitecloud09]

It is to stop it from falling in the tank. But I have the same lid, just different size, and i didn’t know what those were either. So I didn’t even use them actually. Works fine for me without them. I have a 10g tank. Idk specifically what it’s main use is, but I don’t think it is required. Have had mine for months, no issues. 

I cut a hole for my hob and airstone tubing as well. I see you did too. Besides those two pieces I think it is a great lid.

[Tony s]

Okay. Got it on. The wider glass section goes in front. So that’s a problem. Going to need to reposition your handle. The 2 small side clips go in the back, next to the hinge. With the curved part going down. The long attachment goes curved side down in the back attached to the shorter glass panel. As do the 2 medium pieces. Curved side down as well. I won’t be using those because I run a hob filter and need space for it. The long attachment at the back has notches for your cords to run through. 
 

after dropping it in 2 or 3 times to figure it out. It seems relatively stable once in place. The back part  is raised about 1/4 inch above the front panel. Didn’t care for that at first, it was unbalanced. But when you get all the attachments on, it rebalances ok. Not that tight fitting of a lid. But for a multipurpose lid, it’s not horrible. Could be better. I may take and saw the 2 medium pieces down until they fit snugger. 
 

 

On 7/3/2024 at 7:37 PM, doktor zhivago said:

They have weird dimensions on their tanks and nothing fits right

This is true. And this lid is not as tight as I would prefer. 

[Tony s]

@Chili_girl  the only thing I really see is you have it oriented wrong. Small glass in back. Two side pieces against the hinge. Long plastic piece against short glass. What this does is form sort of a level area between the 2 small sides and the end. Otherwise it won’t lay flat.   Theoretically, you could still use the small section in front, but the big glass section has gaps between the frame and the glass so it’s unstable. I dropped it in once that way. And you wouldn’t have holes for cords that way either. 

[Chili_girl]

ok thanks. You're right I wouldn't want to drop it in the tank.  I would really rather have both glass panels the same size. I have sections of both the plastic that contects the two panes and the back flapper. I think I'll take these back and have glass cut at the hardware store.

[Tony s]

On 7/7/2024 at 3:04 PM, Chili_girl said:

You're right I wouldn't want to drop it in the tank

I did that twice. It’s not really a bad lid. For the price. And it’s made to be compatible with different tanks. So it fits none of them perfectly. It’s actually more secure with the plastic pieces secured against the edges. Using it on a breeding tank. I give it a 5 out of 10

 

[Whitecloud09]

On 7/7/2024 at 3:54 PM, Tony s said:

I did that twice. It’s not really a bad lid. For the price. And it’s made to be compatible with different tanks. So it fits none of them perfectly. It’s actually more secure with the plastic pieces secured against the edges. Using it on a breeding tank. I give it a 5 out of 10

 

Got one or my 20g when on vacation and I dropped it in tank 3 times after getting back today lol. But no fish, so some luck there. But I FINALLY figured it out. It barely fits my marine land 20g long aquarium. It is for 20g longs, but different brand so not a perfect fit, but it actually does the job for me personally. 6 out of 10. Own 2 now, the one for my topfin 10g kit tank is great, love it. So overall yes a decent lid. Recommend it, 🙂.

Edited July 10 by Whitecloud09