To canopy or not to canopy?

[datawog]

So, I've got a 30g hex aquarium that is going to be planted within the next 2 weeks (get paid tomorrow, get eggcrate Saturday...) to be prepared for the arrival of frogs sometime mid-April, and I'm wondering.... should I build a canopy?

The tank is 24" tall and 20" wide point to point, 18" flat to flat. Each panel is 10" wide. Now, I COULD just slap together a screen top that would rest flat on the top, maybe get a piece of acrylic to help control the humidity.

OR.... I could build a canopy that extends another 12" above the top of the tank, adding another 15 gallons to the total volume of the terrarium. All of a sudden 30g->45g and I can keep another frog or two inside.

CONSIDERATIONS: I'm not sure how to make it in such a way that it will be able to just rest on top of the tank. No, scratch that, I have no effing clue. Humidity is also a concern. The straightforward approach would be to just make the basic frame and fill the gaps with nylon screening, but that would probably release more humidity than I want. I suppose the easy fix would be plastic wrap, but I was hoping to be able to make it look professional. I could use solid wood panels instead of cutouts or frames, but that would defeat the purpose of having the canopy in the first place. Give them 45 gallons to muck around in, naturally they're going to choose the 1/3 of the tank that has no way to view them. So I could either make the frame with mesh and later add acrylic panels as needed, or work from the start with acrylic/glass (toying with the idea of getting cheap picture frames from the dollar store and using the glass from that, if it's only to keep in humidity.....). Also general concerns such as, do I make the canopy straight up-and-down or do I have it taper inwards? Tapering would make adding panels even trickier but would add to the aesthetic qualities, I think.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Once finished, this terrarium will have a waterfall coming down the back, river down the middle, and a pond in the front that will take up about 1/4-1/3 of the footprint. So there will be a fair amount of humidity just from that, as well as my misting. I may also install some sort of rain/mist system if I can get something figured for not too much cost.

EDIT2: The frogs that will eventually make this their home will be either reed frogs, vietnamese mossy frogs, PDFs, or RETFs, if that effects the answer.

[smashtoad]

1. Why don't you just buy a proper manufacturer's glass canopy for the tank, and then dremel out the center of the plastic strip (creating a 1/2" frame) and glue screen in place? That works wonders for me. The "canopy" you speak of sounds like it would take the potential awesome terrarium you have and turn it into some white-trash frankenstein that sells for $20 at a yard sale in a couple years. If you want your plants to rock-out...keep that humidity in...and screen that plastic strip.

2. Why egg crate? False bottom? So much work, so much time wasted. Just put four inches of tiny aquarium gravel in there, wrap your pump tightly in black fiberglass screen, and bury it all the way on the bottom. This turns the entire gravel bed into a biological filter. Top it with three or four inches of sphagnum moss...and plant that sucker! The sphagnum will grow, then die, and is usually replaced with an entirely different species of carpet moss.

Check out the moss covering on my 56 column that is three years old. All this came from sphagnum. In the back left, you can see where I recently replaced some sphagnum. The "bridge" over the center is a sarong vine that became completely covered in the same moss.

I have read "false bottom" threads for years, and IMO, those tanks are for folks who just need to tinker, need to build, and need to feel like they are building the latest and greatest, when in reality they are just making things about 100X more complicated than they need to be.

[datawog]

Annoyingly enough, I can't FIND a manufacturer's top for this tank. Closest I could find was a 35g black plastic aquarium hood for about $60, which didn't fit by like half an inch or something ridiculous like that. $60 on a hood I would have to jury-rig just to fit, and literally tear apart in order to add lights.... or $10 custom diy setup... that's where I'm coming from. My nana has a workshop in her basement so any wood I might need I can just get from downstairs, saving me money there. I'm thinking now that when I go in for the eggcrate, I'll ask how much it would cost to get 6 10x12 panes of glass, or preferably ones that would have 10" bases that taper to 8" or less at the top. Silicon them together, have them rest on the inside lip of the plastic rim, see if I could get the top 50/50 glass and mesh. I think that would look pretty nice. That all depends on the cost of the glass though... even if it is cost-prohibitive, I think I'll keep that idea on the back burner until I can afford it, even if I just wind up building a flat mesh top for now. No matter which I do, I won't be doing any modifications to the tank itself so its resale value won't be effected (I bought for $60 used, could probably make the same if I ever wanted to sell it, but whether as a terrarium or an aquarium I will always be using this thing).

Reason I'm going with eggcrate is one very simple reason: weight. 4 inches of aquarium gravel would be... what, 20lb? More? I've resisted the urge to set this tank back up again as an aquarium (it was my sparkling gourami tank before I had to take it down so I could travel... sigh.... poor little lady's stuck in a 5g right now) because of how much of a pain in the *** it is to deconstruct an aquarium when I have to move. And I tend to have bad luck with living situations, having to move about twice a year. So the last thing I want in there is an extra 20lbs of rocks that doesn't do anything except save me a bit of time in the startup. It's going to have enough weight in it with all the plants and wet substrate in there, I'd rather wait the extra time it will take to get it put together and possibly be able to move it by myself, than purposefully add a layer that really doesn't do anything but add more weight and make it even more of a pain in the *** to transport.

[JHansson514]

I would just go with the screen top and acrylic if needed to retain humidity. The canopies always look nice and kind of give the tank a finished look, but with frogs it is often easier not to go that route. Plus, you want to keep in mind the lighting for the tank. If you are using heat lights it is probably best to leave it open on the top so the heat from the fixture can dissipate easily. Besides, a canopy can always be added later if you really want one. And I'm sure you could find a way to make the canopy rest on the top. I was given a homemade aquarium stand and canopy. The wood for the canopy goes around the outside edge of the glass (encasing it if you will) and there are a couple small wooden blocks screwed in on the inside so the canopy only rests on the plastic frame of the tank (I can send you a picture if that makes the explanation clearer). The other option of having an aquarium lid and replacing the center strip with screen sounds reasonable, but my only concern would be whether or not there would be enough ventilation in the tank. It you're having trouble finding a glass lid from a major retailer your best bet would be a small mom-and-pop aquarium store. They usually have odds and ends like that, or they can at least order them for you.