Dart Den

Guys I'm looking for some ideas, I have been working on this viv for some months now & have tried a couple of different versions of lid. The viv is 4 x 2 x 2 & is a converted fish tank. My most current idea for a lid is a piece of MDF cut to fit the inside of the top, a piece of the mdf will be cut from the inside of the top to house a pane of optiwhite (starfire glass) for the lights and I will fit a section for some sliding glass doors for access into the viv towards the front. Does anyone else have experience of fabricating a lid for a glass fish tank?

Here is what I'm working with; -



Ben

First, nice tank! I really like the branches running through it.

Secondly, and more to your point. We have made some very simple glass tops for ten and five gallon grow outs here. I would think that our method would be useful to you if you used a thick enough pane of glass. This only works of the plastic edge of the tank is still intact (and it looks from the picture that yours is). We simply had a piece cut to fit the entire top, and then cut a smaller section to be lifted off to allow for feeding, misting, etc. This type of top could easily include a hinge and a knob, but we just use a small piece of gorilla tape to make a flap to pick it up from. It's a very simple top in both design and construction.

And excuse my ignorance but what is mdf?

You are going to have to take special care sealing the MDF really well or it will go all bubbly. Any reason you are thinking about MDF specifically?

Thanks Gnarly , I had considered this idea & then dismissed it however after really giving the top some thought again (this is my third attempt now), the fact that there is only one moving part and a grand total of two pieces does appeal to me. I do have one issue with this, I want to use the same thickness of glass as the tank - 10mm & my local glazier does not stock any glass (let alone optiwhite/starfire which is more than 8mm - crazy I know.

MDF is medium density fibreboard - a fairly common building material in thr UK, as Fieldsmith says its fairly porus, in my previous two attempts at the lid I used this material with a single coas of gloss paint followed by 2 or 3 coats of marine varnish this stuff is designed to be completely non toxic once dry & will protect the hull of a wooden boat from sea water for some years so hopefully no bubbles?

There are two reasons why I'm using this material, 1.) I have plenty of it around & 2.) The area I need to cover is 8 sq ft so I felt that the ususal lid designs would struggle at this sort of size, I really wanted the lid to be a sturdy design.

If there are any other suggestions I would be grateful

Ben

Ah, well thanks for clearing that up for me.
I really look forward to seeing what you come up with. Best of luck.