Hello,

I have a 29 gallon aquarium that recently came back into my possession. I have decided that I am going to set the aquarium up, but unfortunately the only usable part I was given back was the aquarium itself.

I would like to have a cover to reduce the evaporation rate, but am having trouble finding anything relatively cheap. I also want a light for plants, so the light will either have to be separate or incorporated into the cover. For those who are reading this, what are the cheapest covers you've come across?

I am also considering making my own cover out of glass, since I have a large pane of glass that was left in my house by the previous owners. The downsides to making my own are numerous:

1.The pane itself is very thick and heavy. Even after cutting it to the appropriate size, it may still be rather heavy.
2.I would have to purchase cutting tools.
3.I have no experience cutting glass.
4.I would have to purchase some kind of canopy light (which probably isn't cheap either).

Does anyone have experience with making a cover out of glass? Is it the cheapest way to go?

what I use on my 20g long is an egg crate (1/4" square grid lighting diffusers) cut to shape and three round clip on reflectors with spiral (pig tail) 6500k lights. Just rest the reflectors on the egg crate.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

That's what I was going to say but the evaporation issue will not be addressed. Anyway....egg crate is definately a good DIY project. Otherwise, if your handy in woodworking, you can make a nice canopy.

actually you may want to do a canopy to hide the "ugly" clip on lights anyway.

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Good point

Actually, as it was pointed out there is still the evaporation issue, so I don't really want to go the egg crate route. I don't have egg crate readily available anyway. Ultimately, If I can't find a solution for under, say, 15 bucks, I might just reluctantly forgo a cover. I'm not too concerned of jumping fish, just mostly evaporation. I guess what I'm really getting at is that I at least need a semi-appealing light fixture for under $15, prefferably one that is also a cover. Again, if you've come accross one in this price range, I'd like to know. The cheaper the better.

Thanks again, and happy aquarium......ing!

I'd suggest a glass key and some duct tape for the cover (duct tape makes a dandy hinge.) Since you have the glass to do it. Cutting it isn't that hard, and since you seem to have a little extra you could make a couple of practice cuts on a corner. Then after that there's the old lighting standby of a shop light fitted with daylight fluorescent tubes. I'd imagine that you would get all that for maybe $20 or so.

I know around here you can go to Lowes and buy a piece of glass and they will cut it to size for you. No bigger then your tank is and you don't need a supper thick piece of glass it would probably be cheaper to do that then to buy the cutter for the one you have. I bought a glass hood from Dr.Fosters and Smith for my 120 g and it was only about $50.00-$55.00 bucks. It might be worth the money to check them out. They are already hinged, a few years ago I tried to find material to make a hinge for the glass like they use and never found anything.

Well....here's an idear I was pondering to do myself. Seems simple enough.

Get yourself four pieces of glass cut to length to fit in the rails of the tank. Oh wait...yours is a 29....make that two pieces of glass. Get yourself two stainless hinges and a tube of GE I Silicone (Window and Door).

See where I'm going with this... ;o)

You can get a cabinet door pull and silicone on the glass to use to open the cover.

Granted...this is just a thought...can't guarantee it would work but don't see why it wouldn't.

Home Depot sells thin, light plexiglass in different sizes.

You can just use duct tape like a piano hinge. I've done it before and it works great. Line up the two pieces of glass, flat on the table, run a piece of tape along the seam. Then fold them together and run another piece around the edge you just made, it'll last for a good long time, and then you won't have to worry about hinges coming unglued or anything like that.

lol...duct tape...the universal fix all for everything. ;o)

I used to use plexiglass on a 40g tank I had as a kit. It would bow real bad from the moisture I reckon. I had to flip each piece over about once a week and then it would flatten out for a day or two and then start to bow again.

I guess that kind of eliminates plexiglass as a possibility. I never thought it would bow, so thanks for the information. I checked out some prices online, and honestly the stuff was just too expensive for what I'm looking for anyway.

If I made a cover out of the glass I had, I would probably elect to not hinge it, but rather make it out of a solid piece. Duct tape just doesn't quite cut it for me, and any other hinging method I would find would probably look too tacky. I also weighed the piece of glass i have right now. It was a whopping 50 pounds! Using calculations, I found out that the cover would weight about 8.2 pounds after cutting it to size. Is this too heavy? If I made the cover, I would probably also cut an area for the filter and perhaps the heater as well. This would give me a space to put food in, and would decrease the weight of the cover too. With a space to put food in, I really would only have to remove the cover when the tank needed maintenance.

As for the light, as long as it isn't an eyesore, I would probably use the cheapest light cover I could find and rest it on the glass if I couldn't find a method of mounting it.

If I don't ultimately buy a cover, I will post pictures of the project for those who are still interested.

Thanks again for all the responses!

I have a 180 gallon with 3 glass covers ans they are too heavy - the plastic supports have bent and they are in the water if I fill the tank all the way up.