Eggcrate the best solution?

[rckmtl]

So I'm deciding on fish for my tank, and I'm realizing that the fish I like seem to have the common trend of being jumpers.
I don't want to have a glass lid on top of the tank, and I was wondering if putting eggcrate on top was the best way to keep the fish in the tank without blocking the light?
I thought I heard osmething once about if you put the eggcrate on a certain side down, it actually reflects the light into the tank. Is this true? and if so, which way is the right way?
Having a canopy or rasied walls around the top of the tank is not an option as I need air to be able to cirulate around the lights. My apt is too closed off to enclose the lights without having a ton of heat build up.

 

[Dragon Wrasse]

What kind of lights do you have??? I have four 48" T12's in a DIY oak hood, but I also put two 4" muffin fans in the hood with a thermal switch that kicks on some where around 79 deg. (auto on/off)

 

[Witfull]

egcrate will work great for you. ive seen 2 types of eggcrate. one is totally square, all right angles, the other the vertical walls are slightly angled. if you get the angled type, use with the narrower openings towards the lights.

 

[mattie]

not all fish which tend to jump are jumper's
the biggest cause i have seen is an aggresive fish chasing another up the side and out.

but witfull has it right for the eggcrate.

 

[AzOcean709k5]

I have 3 firefish that have never jumped, they have been in my 55 for a long long time. Its all in their personalities, the egg crate, narrow end up just as the other post states...how it is supposed to work is by catching light and narrowing it into smaller beams to penitrate farther into your tank. I believe it is something like that...ill have to check again.

 

[rckmtl]

Cool, thanks for the help everyone! Looks like I'll be getting eggcrate soon then.

And yeah, I've actually not used a cover for my tanks for like 5 years, and only ever even lost two fish to jumping out...but this time, I think I'd rather be -sure- they are gonna stay in the tank.

 

[Witfull]

just keep them away from the rave partys by the subwoofer..lol

 

[rckmtl]

Hmmm..you mean I shouldn't be building a super-mega-watt stereo system around my tank then?
*sigh* There goes my plans.

 

[Witfull]

maybe a mini-micro stereo IN your tank for them,,lol