Vivarium heating help

[kimix]

Hey there,
I'll take a stab at this since there has been no replies yet.

Firstly I want to say that when you see an "ideal" temperature and humidity range to keep in mind that nature does not do exact temperatures and humidity at all times, so there is nothing wrong with variation, and I personally prefer night time drops on all my animals, just like occurs in nature.

Also, most keepers prefer to have a warm and cool side to a tank, so the animal can choose its comfort zone. With the type of setup you have going now, it sounds like there is no cooler zone.

If this was my tank, here is what I would try, Below the light bulb I would cut a circle out of the plexi glass, you could glue screen over the hole to keep an intact lid. The hole will allow some of the excess humidity to escape, and should let you drop down to a 60 watt bulb since there will be less plastic to block the heat entering the tank. Since you have a misting system, I don't forsee a massive loss in humidity, and again, keep in mind fluctuations are fine. And since your tank is still mostly sealed I think the heat will still keep in well.

If you put the hole in the center of the lid, you will have more humidity loss since the whole is closer to all edges of the tank, if you put the hole in one corner, it should keep the humidity a bit higher. You would need to experiment to see how moving the light to one corner would affect the over all temp. Moving the light to one corner may also allow you to move it away from your plants and reduce the burning. And also may give your frog a slightly warmer area vs. the rest of the tank.

The other factor you would need to play with is the size of the hole. You could start with a small hole, see how it affects your numbers, and then expend the size of the hole if its not working out

An opposite way to go would be keep your current lights mounted where they are now, and drill some small holes in the lid to allow some excess humidity to escape. Small holes probably wont lose to much heat, but will again give you a bit of a release of humidity. Again, it would be trial and error to figure out how many holes you need. Start with only a few and increase as needed. But this wont do anything to help the plant problem.

Hopefully some of that will give you some ideas! Good Luck.

[Darkhelmet]

Hey there,
I'll take a stab at this since there has been no replies yet.

Firstly I want to say that when you see an "ideal" temperature and humidity range to keep in mind that nature does not do exact temperatures and humidity at all times, so there is nothing wrong with variation, and I personally prefer night time drops on all my animals, just like occurs in nature.

Also, most keepers prefer to have a warm and cool side to a tank, so the animal can choose its comfort zone. With the type of setup you have going now, it sounds like there is no cooler zone.

If this was my tank, here is what I would try, Below the light bulb I would cut a circle out of the plexi glass, you could glue screen over the hole to keep an intact lid. The hole will allow some of the excess humidity to escape, and should let you drop down to a 60 watt bulb since there will be less plastic to block the heat entering the tank. Since you have a misting system, I don't forsee a massive loss in humidity, and again, keep in mind fluctuations are fine. And since your tank is still mostly sealed I think the heat will still keep in well.

If you put the hole in the center of the lid, you will have more humidity loss since the whole is closer to all edges of the tank, if you put the hole in one corner, it should keep the humidity a bit higher. You would need to experiment to see how moving the light to one corner would affect the over all temp. Moving the light to one corner may also allow you to move it away from your plants and reduce the burning. And also may give your frog a slightly warmer area vs. the rest of the tank.

The other factor you would need to play with is the size of the hole. You could start with a small hole, see how it affects your numbers, and then expend the size of the hole if its not working out

An opposite way to go would be keep your current lights mounted where they are now, and drill some small holes in the lid to allow some excess humidity to escape. Small holes probably wont lose to much heat, but will again give you a bit of a release of humidity. Again, it would be trial and error to figure out how many holes you need. Start with only a few and increase as needed. But this wont do anything to help the plant problem.

Hopefully some of that will give you some ideas! Good Luck.

Cool, thanks for the help! I probably will try drilling some holes in the lid to regulate the humidity, and also to let some more light in. I was thinking about possibly switching to a florescent tube fixture of some type, to spread the light over a greater area and not make it too hot in one spot and burn the plants. Unfortunately, the plants reach all around the tank, so there really isn't any escaping them being under the light.

Do you think there might be a better alternative lighting source to light and heat the tank? If the light could just heat up the tank five degrees or so and I left the heat pad in there, it would provide my animal some ability to choose its comfort zone, right?