Heating Options

[Jmeyer]

Hey everyone, I have an old 20 gallon long tank that i'd like to put on its side and use for phelsuma. But it has glass on both ends so if i did use it i would have to crack the glass and it would get complicated. Wondering if anyone has ever tried just putting a heat pad on one of the glass walls..would that work for heating the geckos? Any input wlecome

 

[daggekko]

If you have a home-made screen front for this tank (after you stand it up) you could find a way to hang a heat lamp against the screen. If you don't want to do that another option is take the plastic rim off the top and bottom of the tank, remove one glass end(the new top), silicone the rims back on and glue window screen over the hole you just created. Like so->

I wouldn't recommend trying the heat pad because that will localize a lot of heat on one surface. It might do the job to get the overall temperature correct but will not really provide a great "hot" spot. Plus, some animals are dumb enough to sit on a heat pad long enough to get burnt(I won't use them at all) Good luck however you choose to go.

 

[Jmeyer]

thanks Daggekko

 

[daggekko]

Yeah, I had a 29 gallon tank at one point a long time ago that I stood on end. I think I might have used a bungee cord to hold the top on/hold the heat lamp on the screen. It was a pain in the butt though. Just be careful if you try to take the trim off the tank. I cracked a 10g the other day trying to get the trim off.

 

[Jmeyer]

Yeah i've tried with so many tanks to get that pane of glass off but it always cracks!! HAha we'll see how this one goes

 

[daggekko]

I used a flat head screw driver and a razor knife( just the blade) on the first tank I did. I think it took 30 minutes or more for me to get the trim off. The second tank I did I went faster and cracked it. Have you seen the enclosure thread? The 10 gallon I just did I painted the sides green and I really like it. It turned out really nice. And if you go to home depot or lowes you can get glass cut to fit inside the rim of the tank so you can have a hinged glass panel. I used silicone to glue the glass and hinges on with and so far it worked very well. I got 1/8 inch glass and for a 10 gallon tank it cost $4 roughly. Not bad. I think the other thread you should look at is "topic for all...enclosures...or something like that. Good luck

 

[Jmeyer]

Thanks Daggekko i'm gonna go check those out. Ill let u know how this turns out!