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Registered Member
Aquarium lids hack
I always hate glass lids. They shatter, they chip, they either look absolutely clean or just dirty.
Like many others, I now use corrugated plastic panels designed for greenhouses.
In the past I've cut them with a very sharp utility knife. Time consuming and they leaves sharp edges.
This time I used a circular saw with a plywood blade (fine toothed). Wow does this work great. Takes seconds to make a cut, easy to get a perfectly straight cut and no sharp edges at all.
I also always cut a 1" hole to make taking off the lids easier. Using the same concept as above I used a diamond hole drill bit instead of a wood hole drill bit. Perfect smooth hole instead of ruff raggedy hole.
Lastly these panels can be expensive. Although I haven't received my new ones yet, I ordered 5 sheets, 2' x 4' from greenhouse megastore for about 85.00 and free shipping.
Hope this helps some people.
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Re: Aquarium lids hack
Looked at there site & they have so much to pick. Can you tell me which ones you use & if they are clear. Thanks Harry
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Registered Member
Re: Aquarium lids hack
I ordered the "easy ship twin wall polycarbonate" in the 6mm. I have 6mm right now and it pretty much sits flush.
I haven't received my order from them yet I was using a spare leftover.
In my experience they are pretty clear, I probably wouldn't use them for a planted tank with high light requirements but to grow crypts or moss they would be fine if you have a decent light.
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Re: Aquarium lids hack
Thanks Dan i will give it a closer look.
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Moderator Team
Re: Aquarium lids hack
Can you show me a picture of one of the lids?
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Registered Member
Re: Aquarium lids hack
IMG_05122020_135535_(640_x_960_pixel).jpg
The condensation is from water getting between the panels when I hosed it off after cutting.
Easy to cut a notch for cords as seen in upper left corner.
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Moderator Team
Re: Aquarium lids hack
Shoot, even I could do this. All I need to buy is the plywood blade and the hole saw. Thanks for the great I idea.
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Moderator Team
Re: Aquarium lids hack
I recently switched to using something similar on my aquarium as well (actually both a DIY Netting with the plastic on top). You can usually find them at your local hardware store. This is the one I used:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/PALRAM-2...4040/305560353
I don't own a circular saw or hole saw, but I do have a Drywall T-Square which is 48" long, so I used that as my straight-edge and used a sharp utility knife to cut it. It took all of a minute to cut it to size. I prefer have as small of holes as possible for my makeshift lid, so instead of drilling a large hole, I just drilled two 1/4" holes about 2" apart and tightened zip tie through it with enough slack as to create a place where I can fit a couple fingers to lift it up.
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