Hello everyone. I have a question regarding heating and lighting my vivarium. The tank is 4ft long 2ft wide and 2t tall. The plants are real and it has 3 stream beds a waterfall that drops into a pond.. pillow moss and coco fiber as substrate. Nothing is planted in it yet cause i am unsure on light vs heat.. Im building it for my tree frogs. I usually buy the heat lamps but i wanna go with some more natural light for them and the plants since i am building an all natural viv for them.. The tepms have to be mid to high 80's. Im not worried bout humidity cause there will be plenty from the pond waterfall and streams...Do the flourescent lights give off heat or should i try a heat mat and get the heat from the bottom up. Please help.
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I would get a large heat mat and place it on the side of the terrarium. Use a thermostat with a probe in the terrarium to keep the temperature at the correct level. For lighting I would use a fluorescent tube in the "daylight" spectrum: any bulb between 5000K and 10000K. I like 6700K. Fluorescent bulbs are not reliable for heating purposes.
Founder of Frogforum.net (2008) and Caudata.org (2001)
thank you. thats very useful. would you reccomend any manufacturers for heat mats or all is the same.. in regards to night lights. what would you suggest.
Brand-wise I don't have a preference, but I would recommend you avoid the ones that have their own adhesive on one side. You will need several to heat that terrarium, considering its size. You could also consider a large heating cable that could run through the substrate.
For nightlights, I would recommend either a few red or blue LED lights (don't use many blue ones), or a weak red fluorescent or incandescent bulb.
Founder of Frogforum.net (2008) and Caudata.org (2001)
thank you john. im gonna stay away from the self adhering heat mats. good to know that...im still working on the night lights. i think i might have found a nice red LED light bar. i agree i dont like the blue lights for night. and thank you again for all your insight
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