Temperature high’s and lows

This is where you discuss the conditions of your crabitat -- temperature, humidity, substrate, decorating, etc.
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Temperature high’s and lows

Post by Links » Fri Jan 24, 2020 10:35 am

So I’ve been monitoring temps and tinkering with airflow. And I’m a little worried.

I have a 55 gal tank and been monitoring temps and humidity in different locations in the tank.

Currently I am taking readings from the center of the tank about 1-2 inches from the sub. And the temp/humidity all depends how I move air. So my readings are 81/77 when lights are on and 75/82 when lights are off. If I turn the fan off the temp always drops and humidity goes up and condensation on the glass is abundant. I had the fan angled toward the front glass for a long time and it kept it clear but at night the area where I put the food gets too cool. I’ve seen it 72 there for a low. Now I have the fan blowing across the top of the back glass. Last time I tried that condensation was too much. So I repositioned the fan still blowing across the back but a little higher and haven’t noticed much condensation. So I’m happy with that. And it’s blowing more heat around since my UtH is on the back.

I have a 47x7 reptile basics UTH. Insulated back and sides. It will be fine in the summer months but right now I think it’s on the cool side. I might break down and get a larger heater and use a thermostat or dimmer switch to control it. Although I don’t mind a little drop at night to mimic nature. But I hope it’s not too cool.

Water temps fluctuate some too. I’ve seen 74 and I’ve seen 77. I’ll probably get those small heaters preset for 78 unless any of you know of a better heater that I can control for a small amount of water (1-2 gal).

I have 3 crabs, all PPs I think. Two are about the size of a golf ball and one is small. The small crab is more active and it’s the one that rode back home with us in a kk on vacation. It’s all over the tank and In the water. Although lately I haven’t seen any activity in the saltwater. The other two just sit most of the time. I see one out moving once in a while but he/she mostly stays in the wood. The other bigger crab stays along the back glass in hollows the she created. I think I can see shell drag where she enters and exits her hollows.

Mainly I’m just worried my temps aren’t sufficient and or dropping too low at night.

My basement is about 65 F. So that heater is doing fairly well. Well the lights and insulation help too. I’ve also been researching correct hvac for basement and mine needs a return added which I’m thinking about adding myself and should make the basement more comfortable. If I can raise the ambient temp a few degrees that might solve everything.

Even with a fan in the tat there is still a temp gradient. It’s definitely warmer near back. My last reading near the back were 84/65 day and 76/75 night. Humidity was low when I took that reading. I’d like to read that again to double check. And last time I took readings where one crab sits in the wood it was 80/80 lol. I guess that’s why that crab likes that spot.

Please let me know y’alls thoughts. Thank you!


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Last edited by Links on Fri Jan 24, 2020 10:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by Links » Fri Jan 24, 2020 8:21 pm

Well I started turning my insulation board around to have reflective side facing into tank and I had to leave before I finished so I threw a blanket over the top and temp jumped up to 86 and humidity 82. One crab (Crabetha) moved out of her hollow in the back by the UTH. Looks like I can just manipulate the blanket through winter months.


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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by curlysister » Sat Jan 25, 2020 12:15 am

I am the queen of the blankets! LOL! I live on the Canadian prairies, where the temperatures can range from +40C in summer to -40C in winter. My house is an old farm house that has forced air heat on the main floor and base board heaters upstairs. I do not have air conditioning. My crabs are in my sewing room upstairs. The temp in the room varies greatly depending on the time of year, to say the least! I do have four UTH's, two on the back and one on each side. I have two of them insulated. And I have three blankets that I fold up and use one, two, or three on the top of the tank in the winter months. Well two are wool, and one is really just a flannel sheet that the cat likes to lay on. I check the temp once or twice a day, and adjust as needed.
How are you moving air around the tank? Do you have a fan INSIDE the tank? How do you plan to put a heater in the water? For both of those scenarios, it seems to me that there would be an electrical cord INSIDE the tank....am I mistaken?
I have never checked the temp of my sub or my pools, I just assume they are the correct temps if the air temp is correct. I measure my tank temp and humidity right in the middle of the tank, at crab level.
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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by Links » Sat Jan 25, 2020 5:56 am

curlysister wrote:I am the queen of the blankets! LOL! I live on the Canadian prairies, where the temperatures can range from +40C in summer to -40C in winter. My house is an old farm house that has forced air heat on the main floor and base board heaters upstairs. I do not have air conditioning. My crabs are in my sewing room upstairs. The temp in the room varies greatly depending on the time of year, to say the least! I do have four UTH's, two on the back and one on each side. I have two of them insulated. And I have three blankets that I fold up and use one, two, or three on the top of the tank in the winter months. Well two are wool, and one is really just a flannel sheet that the cat likes to lay on. I check the temp once or twice a day, and adjust as needed.
How are you moving air around the tank? Do you have a fan INSIDE the tank? How do you plan to put a heater in the water? For both of those scenarios, it seems to me that there would be an electrical cord INSIDE the tank....am I mistaken?
I have never checked the temp of my sub or my pools, I just assume they are the correct temps if the air temp is correct. I measure my tank temp and humidity right in the middle of the tank, at crab level.


I’m moving air with a fan. It’s actually a fan/heater for cigarette plug in a car but I modified it to be plugged into a house. The heater doesn’t work after the mod. I suppose the adapter just doesn’t supply enough current for the heater part. Plus it’s probably not made to run 24/7 but I’ve had the fan part running for months now. I’ll send pics so you can see. I had to find an adapter from some old electronic device that converts 110v to 12 v. Like a car Image. It is up high in the tank and they shouldn’t be able to get to the cord. There’s only about 1/4 inch of cord in the tank and it’s at the very top by the light. I can change the direction of flow which changes temp/humidity inside. Probably just rearranging the gradient already there. But now that I am using blanket I might be able to turn the fan off. Then again the fan helps knock off the condensation on the glass.

The only other electrical cords in the tank are for the pool filters and I slid a pvc pipe over them so they can’t pinch or climb them.

The heaters for the pools if needed now that I can stop temps dipping into the low 70s the pools might not need heaters. But if I add heaters I will put them behind the filters and use the pvc to protect the crabs from the cords and visa versa.

And I too am only reading center of tank near the sub for now. But I have monitored conditions all over. It’s a pain but I wanted to know. I’d have to move the probes (sensors) and seal tank back up then wait for numbers to stabilize and getting a day and night reading. Takes time which I don’t have much of especially during summer (60+hr work weeks). I’m winter I get to play a little bit (35+hrs/week).

I don’t measure the sub temps anymore but last time I did it was 70F at a 5 inch depth in the center of the tank. When I first set it up it was 75 F. But That was because I was using a space heater to heat area around tank. It was my only solution until I found reptile basics UTH’s.


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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by Links » Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:27 am

It’s difficult to get a good picture right now but you can at least see the tube I have covering the cord and the fan is that black thing at the top
Image


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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by curlysister » Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:43 am

Ah, okay, that makes sense now that you explained it and the photo. You went to a lot of work to figure all of that out! Nature has temperature gradients, so I am sure the crabs appreciate gradients in the tank too. As long as none of the gradients are way above or way below the recommended temps/ humidity, it's all good.
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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by Links » Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:32 am

Well now ive been playing with the blanket im using and i have to have it over just half the tank because it heats up too much when the lights are on. ideally i need to cover it entirely when the lights go off but im NOT getting it that routine.

Anyway now im getting 84 F/ 82% (day)
and 77 F/ 91% (night)

Is this fluctuation too much? Id 84 too high to hit everyday? Ive looked through the forums as much as I can and cant find a solid answer. I know wild temps change from day to night and its natural for humidity to increase at night because the temp falls closer to the dew point. And technically when temp matches dew point humidity should be 100% and most likely raining.

BUT crabs are mobile and probably move to certain locations in the wild to regulate their temps as best they can. And Im know I have a variations within the tank so maybe im worrying too much.

The day/night temp swings also vary within the tank. The left side doesnt vary much from day to night. So some areas are more consistent.

If i took off the blanket during the day and put it back at night i would get 80F/77% (day) and 80F/85% (night)

Since I don't want to make that commitment I'm looking into a thermostat for my UTH

Also Im looking for a post or reply from @aussieJJDude talking about a device to control temperature creating nighttime lows and daytime highs. Can someone point me to it? Did he mention what his temperatures will be?

I have a crab not moving much is one reason i feel concerned. She molted right after I got her (buried for 2 months). Emerged active but now she is still as a statue. Although she did finally move spots last night. Maybe Ive been messing around in the tank too much? Maybe its nothing. I feel like my water is good and food variety is good. Who knows.

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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by aussieJJDude » Sun Jan 26, 2020 5:53 pm

The link may of been in my build:
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic? ... source=app


But the controller is Microclimate B1 HT magic eye. Basically the HT model means it has a higher temperature range, and the magic eye comes with a built in day/night cycle. So as it gets dark, the temp comes down.

I love the unit.

It's currently hooked up to a CHE, but could also work with heat mats. Due to the way CHE work, where they have a localised 'hot zone' I've kept it at 33C (91F) and the rest of the tank is usually arouns 25-27C (77-80F) during the day, abd at night warm zone cools to around 80F and rest of the tank usually maintains at around 23-26C (73-78F)

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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by Links » Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:48 pm

Thanks bro


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Temperature high’s and lows

Post by Links » Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:42 pm

Blankets are really helping me hold in heat so I ended up just getting a regular thermostat.
Have it set to shut off at 82. But darn thing won’t turn on like I think it should when it falls below 82.
When my lights shut off the temp will drop and I want the UTH to kick in then and temp should gradually fall to 77-78. And also the lights won’t keep it at 82 on their own so UTH needs to periodically run during the day as well.

I got the iPower Digital ETL Thermostat. Description says constant temp control.


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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by aussieJJDude » Wed Jan 29, 2020 5:20 pm

Sounds like you got a good unit. Be interested to see how it goes.

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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by Links » Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:58 pm

It’s defective I think. Thought it would turn the heater back on when temp falls below setting but it either doesn’t at all or does after dropping 5 degrees. Video shows it Turning back on at 0.2 degrees below set temp.

Defective?

Returning it and trying another.

But I was able to keep it at 78 at night. Instead of 75.

I just need the thermostat to keep it from cooking in the day.


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Re: Temperature high’s and lows

Post by aussieJJDude » Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:06 pm

My thermostat had an option that you can alter the max temp drop below a ceetain temp for it to come on. Odd feature, but may be may be the same.

If not, yeah. Sounds defective.

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