# Thinking of going topless



## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

not at the beach :bigsmile: but on my 112 gallon tank. My house's temperature is always very warm so I don't think my heater would have to work much harder. I'm planning on lowering the water by at least 6 inches so that I can have some floating plants & floating wood for my turtle, therefore I'm not too worried about fish jumping out. Besides the constant evaporation, the risk of my cat falling in, or my 'active' children throwing the odd toy into the tank are there any other drawbacks?


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I don't see many drawbacks besides the evaporation. Could make your house a bit muggy too. I find that with my tops on about half way in my 400g, the family room does tend to get a bit humid in the summers. I have to make sure the bath fan is on or the window is opened a crack. Otherwise, going topless is great.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Yep, topless is nice, but on a big tank, in the middle of summer the humidity could be significant. I found that in the winter it fogged all my windows. The big cube I have is still "topless' so to speak, but I have an elevated canopy with doors on 2 sides and slots on the other 2 and the humidity is significantly reduced. Kind of the best of both worlds except that I didn't make it quite tall enough. If it had been taller it would have been easier to work in.


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## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

My house is an open design so the tank isn't in a room with closed doors. I think that the humidity would be pretty well dispersed. This time of the year we also have a couple fans running 24/7 and some windows are always open. There is a window above the tank but it's double glass, so I'm not sure if it would fog up in the winter.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

If you're not worried about the humidity that's great. I live in an old house where the half the windows are new and half are old and the double glazed windows aren't well insulated anymore. Give it a try. I had eggcrate on mine as I was worried about jumpers, but if you lower the water it should be no problem. I wanted open top with a suspended light, but my wife said no to the massive spillage (96 W of T5HO is a lot of light spillage).


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Just evaporation as mentioned both times before, and as you already stated. That's the biggest pain, having to constantly top off in between water changes.

For me humidity was a factor, but that was because it was in a small bedroom. Wouldn't want mildew\mold due to moisture, that could lead to health issues for the family, but as you said the open floor design should disperse it.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Pamela,

You tease. What a post title.

Should have added "Pics inside" :bigsmile:

I found that when it gets hot, I usually switched to a reverse photoperiod (i.e. lights on in the evening/night so that its cooler and the windows are open). Fans blowing between the lights and glass tops will also help cool things off.

Anthony


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

My 210 gallon is topless year round and no issues other than Wendall the turtle escaping twice when the water level was too high. I found that if I left the water level about an inch below the brace, the Wendall can't make it to the ledge and out


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## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> If you're not worried about the humidity that's great. I live in an old house where the half the windows are new and half are old and the double glazed windows aren't well insulated anymore. Give it a try. I had eggcrate on mine as I was worried about jumpers, but if you lower the water it should be no problem. I wanted open top with a suspended light, but my wife said no to the massive spillage (96 W of T5HO is a lot of light spillage).


I'd love to do a suspended light over the tank but I'd get in trouble from my husband for attaching hardware to my ceiling & I don't have the skill set to build some sort of DIY tank mounted hanging device.



SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Pamela,
> 
> You tease. What a post title.
> 
> ...


Lol! I didn't think that the title was too racy 

I'm not wanting to take the lid off to help cool the tank, I just really hate my glass lids. It's a custom lid (2 pieces) that doesn't have hinges or slide open so I have to either lift the lid up with one hand while I throw food in with the other or completely remove the lid to access the tank. It's 60" long & awkward to move. I have dings in my walls from hitting them with the glass.



josephl said:


> My 210 gallon is topless year round and no issues other than Wendall the turtle escaping twice when the water level was too high. I found that if I left the water level about an inch below the brace, the Wendall can't make it to the ledge and out


That's good to hear that your 210 g doesn't have issues being topless. Silly Wendall! I'm moving my Razorback turtle into this tank to give her more room. I'll be watchful of possible escape routes.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Pamela,
> 
> You tease. What a post title.
> 
> Should have added "Pics inside" :bigsmile:


LOL Anthony! That title definitely is an attention getter 'eh lol


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## Aquaman (Apr 21, 2010)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Pamela,
> 
> You tease. What a post title.
> 
> ...





Pamela said:


> Lol! I didn't think that the title was too racy





Diztrbd1 said:


> LOL Anthony! That title definitely is an attention getter 'eh lol


LOL we could have a poll on the issue :bigsmile:...on a unrelated note ....hows the twins doing Pamela :bigsmile:..... (get your minds out of the gutter girls .. )
must be getting big by now..I have my 12 year old granson visiting for 3 weeks ....can imagine twins ..
topping up isn't to bad ..just keep a couple of gallon jugs filled and add one per day no big deal 6 jugs and you wont even need conditioner after they sit.
oh and post some pics would you .


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Pamela, I have diamond hole saw drill bits that I can drill a feeding hole for you in the lids so you don't have to lift them up, as long as they are not tempered glass (although they may be tempered).


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## gsneufeld (Jan 28, 2012)

A problem that people sometimes don't think about - cigarette smoke and paint fumes and other toxic stuff.. especially for air-breathing fish like corydoras, can be lethal.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I don't think anybody in Pamela's household smokes with all the little kids running around.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

gsneufeld said:


> A problem that people sometimes don't think about - cigarette smoke and paint fumes and other toxic stuff.. especially for air-breathing fish like corydoras, can be lethal.


I think they're pretty toxic for humans too.


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## gsneufeld (Jan 28, 2012)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> I don't think anybody in Pamela's household smokes with all the little kids running around.


Oh right.... in that case, when a four year old vomits all over the front of the tank, put a cover on it before you break out the chemical cleaner sprays and whatnot


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Well........ alll my tanks are topless. I try to avoid jumpers, but I do have an occosional suicide. My old apartment is typically warmer than most year-round and i open windows throughout the year. I also have no stove vent..... DOH!

Best regards,

Stuart


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## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

Aquaman said:


> LOL we could have a poll on the issue :bigsmile:...on a unrelated note ....hows the twins doing Pamela :bigsmile:..... (get your minds out of the gutter girls .. )
> must be getting big by now..I have my 12 year old granson visiting for 3 weeks ....can imagine twins ..
> topping up isn't to bad ..just keep a couple of gallon jugs filled and add one per day no big deal 6 jugs and you wont even need conditioner after they sit.
> oh and post some pics would you .


You're funny Bill  The twins are doing great, they turned 6 yrs old on Canada Day. That's awesome that you have your grandson there for 3 weeks! I used to spend most of every summer in Bella Coola with my grandparents & those were some of the best times in my life. I like to keep a few gallons of aged water sitting around for betta water changes so it'd be easy to keep a larger amount for top-offs of my big tank.



SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Pamela, I have diamond hole saw drill bits that I can drill a feeding hole for you in the lids so you don't have to lift them up, as long as they are not tempered glass (although they may be tempered).


I know that I really should know this, but I can't remember if the glass is tempered or not 



gsneufeld said:


> A problem that people sometimes don't think about - cigarette smoke and paint fumes and other toxic stuff.. especially for air-breathing fish like corydoras, can be lethal.


That is a very good point. I already have a smaller open top tank in the same area as this one so I'm careful not to pollute the air. Chemical smells, strongly scented products, & floral perfumes all give me headaches so I tend to use more un-offensive products like Pink Solution for cleaning. When I have to use the heavy duty stuff to clean the bathrooms I do it with the doors shut & all the windows open.



gsneufeld said:


> Oh right.... in that case, when a four year old vomits all over the front of the tank, put a cover on it before you break out the chemical cleaner sprays and whatnot


 noooooo ...anywhere but the fish tank!



CRS Fan said:


> Well........ alll my tanks are topless. I try to avoid jumpers, but I do have an occosional suicide. My old apartment is typically warmer than most year-round and i open windows throughout the year. I also have no stove vent..... DOH!
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Stuart


I feel for you living in a warm apartment. When we had our house built (by a friend) he decided to put in double the amount of insulation to save on the cost of heating. Bad idea, it holds in too much heat  The upstairs floor of my house is over 85 degrees for about 4 months of the year even with the windows open!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Pamela said:


> The upstairs floor of my house is over 85 degrees for about 4 months of the year even with the windows open!


This is why I told Irene we're only buying the groundfloor suite, not the bigger upstairs one. It's about 10+ degrees at least cooler downstairs. If I leave the front & back doors open, we have a cool breeze blow through the house and its very, very comfortable in the summer. On the hottest days, I pull out my 12000btu portable AC unit, but now I have too many tanks on too few breakers, it'll be tricky to find a spare breaker/plug I can power my AC unit with


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## Jondis21 (Sep 7, 2010)

Wow!!! And i fell for itlol...


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> This is why I told Irene we're only buying the groundfloor suite, not the bigger upstairs one. It's about 10+ degrees at least cooler downstairs. If I leave the front & back doors open, we have a cool breeze blow through the house and its very, very comfortable in the summer. On the hottest days, I pull out my 12000btu portable AC unit, but now I have too many tanks on too few breakers, it'll be tricky to find a spare breaker/plug I can power my AC unit with


run an extension cord from the upstairs suite...................hahahahhah


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## BaoBeiZhu (Apr 24, 2010)

K.. I m gonna be honest here, I only came in the thread because I thought some hot babe was thinking about going topless..


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## Aquaman (Apr 21, 2010)

BaoBeiZhu said:


> K.. I m gonna be honest here, I only came in the thread because I thought some hot babe was thinking about going topless..


Well you weren't to far off then were ya ....just your definition of topless,was off :bigsmile:


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