Making a lid for a bow fronted tank

[GerbilUK]

Hello, I have a large bow fronted aquarium that I would like to convert to a gerbil home. We used to have fish it in but it leaked and I don't trust it to be watertight any more!

I am not sure the best way to make a lid though. I can bend some chicken wire over temporarily, but I would like something more robust.

It's a corner tank with three straight edges and a curved front. I can't adapt the existing hood as its s built in filter unit/light setup.

I have just made a lid for my rectangular 2ft tank out of wood, but I don't see how I can use wood for the curved edge. My husband suggests cutting Perspex to fit the gap and the drilling ventilation holes, or maybe some kind of metal strip that I can bend and that I can attach the wire to somehow.

Any ideas welcome! Has anyone done this? Wokette

[snowballandnugget]

What i would attempt would be wire screening attached to some half round wood.

m.homedepot.ca/Product/productdetails.aspx?ProductId=905218&lang=EN

So i would mold the screening to the top of the tank and trim off the excess. Then i would attach two straight pieces to the corner part of the wire. A staple gun would make this easier. To get the front half round to bow, soak it in water first. Once its more bendable, staple it to the molded wire. If you are handy with a miter box or know someone who is, then you can use it to make the corners more flush to each other.

You could even skip the wood and just have the wire top!

[GerbilUK]

Hiya, thanks for this. I have got the gerbils into their home and made a temporary lid with wire. It makes it easier as there's a large lip below the inside of the surround... so when I cut the wire to size it can be wedged onto the lip and is reasonably secure. It looks really elegant but I'm not sure it's a permanent solution. I have a wire hanger over the edge of the tank for the water bottle and I am worried that if they climb up that they will be able to push the wire up as its only slightly wedged.

I am a bit dubious about making a curved piece of wood that long tbh.. Although I suppose if its quite thin stuff it might be easier... Wouldn't there be a lot of stress on the staples at each end as the wood tried to straighten itself?

I have just been looking at pieces of Perspex which we would fit to sit on the lip and if we got say 5mm it would be held down by its own weight. Could then drill plenty of holes for ventilation. Trouble is, it's expensive say £30 for the plastic, which seems a bit silly. The other option is to make/find some clips to hold the present wire on. I don't want anything too fiddly tho as I am often lifting the lid to put bits and pieces in.

Thanks for your reply- I will carry on thinking !

[catnut]

I'm trying to come up with a lid for my 33 gallon,too. I have wire but not the right size and you can only buy it in a roll which costs $17 plus cutting the wire is hell as I don't have the right tool to do it with. I have two wire mesh already cut but put them overlapping but don't have the gerbil in it yet as I worry he may escape somehow, even though the tank is very high. I was thinking of just using one of the wires and using heavy duty cardboard on the other half with breathing holes so it would be easier to open up and tape it down well,but will have to try it out to see if it works. I wish I was handy or knew someone who was.he is in a barred cage I have to return at some point, so have to come up with something by next month.

[qtoffer]

I would make a rectangular lid and then attach to it a thin (no more than 1/4 inch thick) piece of plywood cut to cover up the bowed section in the front. Do you have a small jigsaw or a hand-held coping saw to make a curved cut in plywood?

[GerbilUK]

Yeah we have a jigsaw and a coping saw. I hadn't thought of that- I like that idea!