acrylic covers vs glass covers

[SCUBAFREAK]

Hello all. I have a quick question. I have a 55 gallon tank that i am planting. I have a new light on order that will give me around 2.3 watts per gallon. I will need to redo the cover on my tank to accomodate the new light. The guy at my lfs told me not to use glass because it filters uv light. he told me to go and get some acrylic cut for it. The lady at Tap plastics told me that acrylic will also filter u/v light. Does it really matter if they filter u.v light? What are other people using as a top for the tank. I was even told to run it open but i dont want to do that. I will still go with the plastic top, just thought i would see other peoples opinion.

thanks
Ryan

 

[FishHeadSoup]

knew about the glass filter but never heard of plastic doing the same thing???

 

[metant]

With the tank cover, It will lessen the effective wattage of your flourescent but will still work fine. I also cover some of my tanks with glass and the plants are fine.

 

[SCUBAFREAK]

thanks. I really want to worried about it i just thought i would get a couple of opinion

thanks
Ryan

 

[DeLgAdO]

glass will bend light making if less effective at pass light though it

it would want a cover that wont bend light, go with acylic.

taken from tenecor website

If a transparent object is surrounded by another material that has the same index of refraction, then the speed of light will not change as it enters the object. No reflection and no refraction will take place, and the object will appear invisible and without distortion, even at increased viewing angles. In addition to having a slight green tint, glass has an index of refraction that is considerably different from water. Incidentally, clear acrylic plastics have almost the same refractive index as seawater so there is no bending of light as it passes from the plastic into seawater, providing better and brighter color and sharper shapes in acrylic aquariums. The huge viewing windows in large public aquariums and oceanariums can be more than 12 inches thick, but because they are made of acrylic, they afford a very clear view of the water and ocean life they enclose. Acrylic also allows better penetration of your system lighting, which is especially important for reef systems.

the same principle is applied to planted tanks

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

I've had planted tanks for about 25 years now, all with glass tops ...

UV is mostly used by algae, not macrophages. I know of at least one reputable, plant-oriented European company (Dennerle), who actually wraps their fluorescent bulbs with UV-filters. That allows high Watts/gal while reducing the likelyhood of algae. I love their products!

HarleyK

 

[SCUBAFREAK]

Thanks alot guys. i already have the acrylic cut so that is what i am going to use i just wanted other peoples views.

thanks
Ryan