Carol, mine would generally be considered partially to mostly closed, I believe. When I obtained my 90 and 55 gal tanks, the top glass came with each. (The 90gal was a garage sale purchase, and the 55gal a hand-me-down from a friend's father who decided that after 20-30 years he was tired of keeping cichlids.) With the 55gal, the top glass covers about 75-80% of the tank -- it's missing the rubber "hinge" section as well as the plastic backsplash section. With the 90gal, about 90% of the tank. Having the top glass does help with keeping the humidity higher and more consistent. The only way the "above fluoros" would be anything more than useless would be if the tubes sat across the top of the tank. Sorry about that. You are absolutely correct that you would need to provide supplemental lighting. I did have a buddy who did just that with one of his larger terrs. He got 2 -two bulb 4ft shoplights and sat them across the top of the tank. Worked well. My tanks both have simple hoods I designed and my dad helped me make years back when I went upstate to visit. Each hood is hinged so I can flip back half of the hood to access the tank and the bulbs. The hoods -- from front to back -- cover about 90% of each tank. For lights I use six 200W equivalent coiled fluorescent bulbs in my 90gal and four 200W equv + two 100W equiv in my 55 gal. I have pondered trying some of the newer tube LEDs (I know a grower who supplies plants to the pdf hobbyists. He has done a great deal of investigating to find a brand of LED he feels will actually work for growing plants... as opposed to the junky ones you will find at a BBS.) Unfortunately, the suckers are EXPENSIVE. That has held me back. I'm currently testing out 2 LED tube bulbs on my plant stand. I'll see how they work out. (Definitely a LOT less heat than even regular fluoros, but haven't had them in play long enough to see what the plants think of them.) If your tanks are open, you will have to play much closer attention to humidity issues ... or more to the point a lack there of. Even without a top, you should wind up with an overall higher humidity level within the tank than the rest of the room. And depending upon just what plants you wish to grow, the humidity levels you will need to maintain may or not be more challenging to maintain in an open system. The buddy of mine who had the shoplights lying across his tank had a stream running through the tank (I think it may have been a 125gal L tank but it has been too long so memory is fuzzy.) The stream kept the tank envir. quite humid even though the tank was open.

OMG..I love this forum. You people have the best humor. Thanks for making me laugh.. My daughter got me a few light gray bullfrog tadpoles. I have grown to love two of them. I haven't seen the other three since I put them in my pond. I named the biggest one Puffy, and the smaller one Fatty. We would stare at each other for the longest time, and they are soo cute. I am dreading for them to get big. I don't want to be afraid of them. I am not worried about them messing with my fish. They don't seem aggressive at all. The fish will taunt them and bully them around and chase them around the pond, but they won't do anything to defend themselves except to try to swim away from them when the fish won't leave them alone. I like seeing pictures of you holding them. I hope I don't get eeked out by them when they mature.

Ha, I think alot of us zone 5 and colder know this pain more than zone 6 and warmer... We are a perpetual testing ground for roses here. Ive lost around 35-45 percent of all of my roses I have ever tried. Over a dozen buck roses GONE, half a dozen austins, a dozen hybrid teas, a poly or two, a couple of romanticas, a couple floris.. I LAUGH at the supposed modern HARDY rose label, its a joke to a truly harsh climate, plus the fact that most of these hybridezers really dont try them out in my conditions. Ive probable lost 70 roses all told you do the math 70 dollars x 12.00 or so = 840.00 bucks or so.. No wonder my wife cringes every year when I expand my gardens LOL. I NOW order 5-1 from truly hardy antiques vs modern roses. This coming year, 4 gallicas and a couple of canadians are going in. Quite frankly Ive lost even hardy roses to savage deer attacks or them being shipped SOOO puny there was no hope of survival. Pickering sent me the SMALLEST little gallica of Belle Doria last year, Im not impressed and I would be suprised to see it this coming spring. Its the constant freeze / thaw cylce plus the -15 degree lows. I have it hard enough here, I cant imagince those with -30 degree weather on a consistent basis. Last year was a very cold year here and we hit between -17 and -19. Even our major city who hasnt seen - in the teens saw a -15. I used to live in a zone 4b zone with temps getting as low as -25 or so. Ive really cut back as well. I wont have more than 60 or so roses in my new gardens in the coming years. With my schedule and my kids, I dont have time to deal with these fussy wussies! This is the constant frustration to us more northern gardeners. I love the antiques, but gosh , I like to see some roses in august and sept as well! We have such a short season here! (Yet after seeing other threads, I do like that I dont have to water much =). Silverkelt

/tricia, beautiful pieces, beautifully displayed. I love copper! I collect cookbooks. Haven't counted in several years, But I'm guessing I have at least 300 to 400. I really prefer those put out by organizations, as fund raisers. But I do have a lot of commercial books, too. And many of the small 'booklet' type, Such as those put out by Pillsbury, etc, Covering specific types of recipes. I have a lot of kitchen gadgets, Not particularly as a collection, But just because I like them. You could call me a 'gadgetaholic' I guess. In fact, I like tools of all kinds. And then there are dishes. Again, not intended to be a 'collection'. I just like them. And enjoy having several different sets. None would be of any particular value, to anyone but me. (Such as the set that was my Mother's "Sunday" set, And a few pieces that were brought from Germany.) Some of the Depression Glass I have Might have some value to some collectors. Rusty