Screen tops are the best way to keep fish from jumping out of the aquarium. For many years, glass tops were the preferred way to keep fish inside the aquarium, preventing them from going carpet surfing. Just about every plastic-braced glass aquarium on offer, at least in the North American market, was usually bundled with some sort of tight fitting glass top or lid, usually with a plastic hinge.
However, in recent years braceless or rimless aquariums have become much more favorable for presentation purposes, and without some kind of clip glass tops or lids are mostly not practical to use. With the open top aquarium aquarists have looked to other ways to keep the fish inside the tank, and screen or mesh tops have become a go-to way to make sure that the fish stay inside the water.
The use of screen lids is also desirable in some aquariums to encourage better gas exchange, and especially to allow the carbon dioxide produced by the aquarium animals to escape, helping to stabilize and increase the pH levels so that our corals may grow faster. With the introduction of Innovative Marine’s Nuvo and Fusion aquariums that are bundled with an included well-fitting screen top, the awareness of using this sort of fish-retention device has really increased.
Unfortunately, the do it yourself options for making your own screen top for an aquarium have been ghastly, messes of PVC and hot glue that should really be relegated to being hidden behind a canopy. Fortunately, this new Marine Depot video shows a new and much more attractive way to create a custom-fitted screen top for the aquarium that is both resistant to water and ultraviolet light, and should do a fine job of giving you all the benefits of using a screen top without the eyesore of typical DIY solutions.
