DIY Screen Net Tops: Tips, Tricks, and Pics!

Arnout96

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Nice to see all these very nicely crafted aquarium covers! Great work.
I have installed this cover to my aquarium, extremely effective, and it is barely visible with the lights on!
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first shot.jpg
 
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LbulletM

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Here's my current "I'M NOT LOSING ANOTHER FISH" work around until I get the frame squared up and mesh put in this weekend. :D

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At least it aides as another step of light acclimation for all of my new corals hahaha
 

Arnout96

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The solution looks nicely improvised! But... I am wondering: are your fish still getting sufficient oxygen this way??
 

LbulletM

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The solution looks nicely improvised! But... I am wondering: are your fish still getting sufficient oxygen this way??

OH NO! I need to get home and take this off ASAP!

Just kidding, there's a pretty large gap at the cutout around my filter (which is part of my modification before screening) and the filter injects a LOT of bubbles into the system from the cascade, especially with my water being a little low after a water change last night.
 

Murftoo

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This is exactly what I did and it makes feeding and other daily things like clipping seaweed easier.


This is great! My BRS DIY kit ended up warped from pulling too tight, so I need a redo and was considering trying to create a hinged system for feeding, etc. But this looks simpler and smarter. Are those clips in the center T shaped? Or are the two screens just loosely sharing the space on top of a normal clip?

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Mal11224

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Nice to see all these very nicely crafted aquarium covers! Great work.
I have installed this cover to my aquarium, extremely effective, and it is barely visible with the lights on!
16864137_1612995915382543_5004764162194741774_n.jpg
first shot.jpg
Hi. Love your top. Have you had issues keeping fish in since it's open like that? I have a full net cover and was thinking about cutting it like that. i have had two fish jump out, which caused me to make one.
 

Arnout96

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Hi. Love your top. Have you had issues keeping fish in since it's open like that? I have a full net cover and was thinking about cutting it like that. i have had two fish jump out, which caused me to make one.

Hey, no I have had no fish jump out the tank anymore! But I do not know what it does with wrasses since they seem very 'jumpy'. But my top was sufficien for my 10 anthiases and 10 chromises so I am pretty happy with it. I see these tops are coming to market as a retail product soon
 

Mal11224

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Hey, no I have had no fish jump out the tank anymore! But I do not know what it does with wrasses since they seem very 'jumpy'. But my top was sufficien for my 10 anthiases and 10 chromises so I am pretty happy with it. I see these tops are coming to market as a retail product soon
I like the way they look. The full screen seems to dull the light a little even though retailers say they don't diminish the intensity.
 

Arnout96

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I like the way they look. The full screen seems to dull the light a little even though retailers say they don't diminish the intensity.

Yeah, my exact idea. Not to be advertising but you should take a look at Bananaquarium if you like the 'invisible cover'
 

mfinn

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Yeah, my exact idea. Not to be advertising but you should take a look at Bananaquarium if you like the 'invisible cover'
I looked and the only thing I saw there were covers that only covered the edge of the tanks. kind of useless IMO
 

cmcoker

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I looked and the only thing I saw there were covers that only covered the edge of the tanks. kind of useless IMO
Definitely not a complete solution, I could see it being useful to cover gaps for power cords and such in conjunction with a regular diy kit. Not sure how cost effective that would be though
 

flagg37

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I made mine from 1/4" acrylic too. It was what I had left over from building my sump. Acrylic absorbs water so it starts to pull up from the corners over time. It's symmetrical though so I simply flip it over and it starts over.

image.jpg


My tank is 48"x30" so I wanted the center "brace" to hold up the screen over the length. I also set up my auto feeder on top of it to drop pellets through the screen. The auto feeder sits over the top of the overflow. I have the apex turn off the return pump a couple mins before it feeds so that the food doesn't just go down the overflow.

image.jpg


I used an 1/8" bit as well to route the groove for the spline. There are different thickness splines so make sure you match up your groove with the spline you get. Also routing an 1/8" into the side of 1/4" material isn't the easiest thing to do. It leaves only 1/16" on either side.

image.jpg
 

Xclusive Reef

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here is my solution for screens on a eurobraced tank. I used "polycarbonate h jamb" in the size that matched my screen frame thickness. This is the stuff you use on frameless glass shower enclosures for the door to seal against. I was looking for a solution because I couldn't stand the idea of having this beautiful eurobraced tank and just having a screen sit on top. the screen sits flush with the top of the glass. The screen is the BRS stuff.
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Did you glue the screen to the polycarbonate? Is that the brs screen kit? I also have a eurobrace tank and was looking to keep it clean look like yours. Well done on that screen.
 

SlvrZ

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i just bought one from artfully acrylic, i'm going to replace the screen with the BRS stuff though as it's not perfectly parallel to the edges and its driving me insane
 

mfinn

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i just bought one from artfully acrylic, i'm going to replace the screen with the BRS stuff though as it's not perfectly parallel to the edges and its driving me insane
Have you ever done one?
It's not as easy as it looks. I've done several and it doesn't take much to get it out of line with the edge.
 

flagg37

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That was my first thought too.

Stop looking at your lid and look at your fish and coral more.

I understand when you spot something that bugs you and you can't avoid seeing it.
 

Philt56

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This is exactly what I did and it makes feeding and other daily things like clipping seaweed easier.

Did you have to do anything for where the light mounts are? I assume those are radions and the clamp is going to jut into the tank a bit. Looks like the screw is above the cover too.

I just had a buddy cut out a piece on my overflow area's lid to allow for wrapping around my light mount. Didn't have to be a snug fit since on overflow so not accessible by fish jumpers.
 
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