Heating a 75 gallon tank

[StarSapphire22]

My 4.5 month old Hermanns just got moved over to a 75 gallon aquarium, since he was pacing in his under the bed bin (and is big enough to crawl out now). It's only temporary, my stepdad is building us a nice big enclosure, and the tank was sitting empty so...

Anyways, before he had a 100w powersun, but I am worried it will superheat in there. What wattage and type bulb should I be using (flood, incandescent, etc.)? The tank has a plywood hood made, we were planning on putting a hook inside and hanging the 10" dome from that.

 

[ascott]

That is rough....there are variables:

How deep is your substrate?
How far away is your heat source from the surface of the torts level?
What humidity are you going to run?
Will you heavily plant so there are hiding spots out of the direct heat light?
Have you tried the bulb and checked your temps yet?

 

[StarSapphire22]

There's about 10" from bulb to basking spot, btw.

 

[StarSapphire22]

Re: RE: Heating a 75 gallon tank

That is rough....there are variables:

How deep is your substrate?
How far away is your heat source from the surface of the torts level?
What humidity are you going to run?
Will you heavily plant so there are hiding spots out of the direct heat light?
Have you tried the bulb and checked your temps yet?

Substrate is about 3-6 inches deep.
Heat source is about 10" off the basking rock.
Humidity will be 50-80% (I just go for damp moss rather than a specific number).
No plants right now, but there's a lot of sphagnum moss that he loves to crawl under and multiple hides.
Haven't tried it yet. We set it up and moved him while he was sleeping and lights were off. Its still not "daytime" yet. With how my light was positioned before to achieve proper temps I'm 95% positive it will be too hot.

Should have tested it first, I know, I wasn't thinking. We're hoping to get a new light installed within a couple hours of the normal on time.

 

[StarSapphire22]

Going to the store soon could really use some input!

 

[StarSapphire22]

Well obviously I've gotten a bulb by now, but I am struggling with temperatures.

My fiance bought a bulb that was 50-100w incandescent (he said they didn't have regular 50w....weird). It got too hot. So we got a 40w, but I can't get basking temps above 85 or so. I think we'll switch to a regular 50 or 60, please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Also, I know glass closed chambers are great for humidity, but it's evaporating the water in my water dish randomly (seems to be no rhyme or reason to when it happens) and does it in the span of an hour when it happens. Why is this happening and how can I fix it?

Lastly, any tips for mounting a UV tube fixture to the underside of plywood?

Here's a crappy phone pic of the enclosure.



Littlefoot is pretty sluggish today. Eating now and looks healthy, but seems kinda sad and pathetic. I hate this, I feel terrible. I'm starting to wish we hadn't moved him over.

 

[Tom]

I usually start with a 65 watt flood and then adjust the height of the fixture up or down to get the desired temperature. Since your fixture is pretty well fixed in place, you will have to try an assortment of bulbs until you find the one that is "just right". I recommend you stick with flood bulbs, or regular round incandescent bulbs.

Your florescent fixture can just be screwed to the bottom of the plywood.

Occasionally those dishes will just let the water seep out. Use that one for food and try a new one for water. Mark it on the bottom with and "L" for leaky, or something, so you don't get them mixed up later on.

With damp substrate and a humid hide, I don't worry too much about humidity for Testudo species. If need be I think you could uncover the top a bit if you need to vent some excess heat. Every enclosure is different, so some fine tuning will be necessary.

 

[StarSapphire22]

Re: RE: Heating a 75 gallon tank

I usually start with a 65 watt flood and then adjust the height of the fixture up or down to get the desired temperature. Since your fixture is pretty well fixed in place, you will have to try an assortment of bulbs until you find the one that is "just right". I recommend you stick with flood bulbs, or regular round incandescent bulbs.

Your florescent fixture can just be screwed to the bottom of the plywood.

Occasionally those dishes will just let the water seep out. Use that one for food and try a new one for water. Mark it on the bottom with and "L" for leaky, or something, so you don't get them mixed up later on.

With damp substrate and a humid hide, I don't worry too much about humidity for Testudo species. If need be I think you could uncover the top a bit if you need to vent some excess heat. Every enclosure is different, so some fine tuning will be necessary.

Thanks Tom. We'll try to find a 60w incandescent and try that and see how it goes.

Weird about the dish! It just leaks right through the clay?!

He has a lid more for cats than anything. Keeping in heat is nice too. It's been crazy humid, so I'm misting less and seeing how much of a difference it makes. He really doesn't need 90% humidity lol.

His substrate has a wet inch or two underneath of soil, sphagnum, and coir, the top is pure dry coir. In his old enclosure I could NOT get the substrate to dry out, so I'd like to try and keep it dry.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Some of the clay saucers do leak. Sounds like yours is one of them. A new one will do you just fine.

Since you are housing a Hermann, you could drill a bunch of holes in the wood. The lid will keep the cats out while letting some extra heat and humidity out, too. Just a thought.