tank. 10.5 inches by 20.5 inches would give you just a little overlap. Drop by your local hardware store and look for scraps in the window department. Acrylic bows and you'd have to turn it over once in a while, but it can be handy.
That creative canvas suggested for jar tops can be used, but it also bows and lets a lot of evaporation through.
Screens in frames or a frame built to the ten-gallon tank's dimensions have been assembled. Fiberglass screen will not rust. It is hard to shine a light through it. 1/2 inch fluorescent light grid has also been used, but there us evaporation through it.
Styrene ceiling lighting panel material, such as that sold at Home Depot doesn't bend. Cut carefully with a hacksaw blade. There is also a special, fairly inexpensive tool sold for cutting it. One can also use a variable speed Dremel with either the saw blade or the carbide wheel. The Dremel can be run at about 1/3 speed where you slowly score the styrene. Then increase the speed to only about 1/2 and slowly deepen the grove. This gradual approach is supposed to avoid chipping.
Here's one example:
http://chika.aka.org/library/tanklids/tanklids.htm
Scrap glass could also be cut to size - fit the inside of the tank frame. Have it cut into two pieces and silicone a marble or plastic tube in the middle of the narrower piece. That will give you a handle to raise that part. Also have them sand or grind the sides, so it isn't sharp and will not cut you. Perfect makes an all glass top like that. They have a silicone hung in it and plastic on the back, so space can be cut for heaters and airlines.
Speaking of heaters, so long as there is water flow, submersible heaters are more reliable and longer lasting. They are more expensive.
To really cheap out on a top, use plastic wrap. Just make sure it is tight. ;)
These are probably just a few of the thrifty tank tops one can put on an aquarium. I know there are extra materials, expensive in their own right, which one can sometimes talk hardware stores out of, because they are odd scraps. I have used scrap glass (including the sides of broken aquariums) and plexiglas. I appreciate them for their strength and transparency for lighting.
Several of these ideas were from the Killietalk Mailing List. If you were to go to Google, The Krib or http://fins.actwin.com, you will find a lot more.
All the best!
u.s.
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