Heating and Lighting

Mamakins · Post by **Mamakins** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:02 pm

I got my new (used) tank today. Bought it from a friend for 20$ including a nice wood stand. I'm pretty sure it's 30 gal (30"x12"x18") I have a question about lighting. It also included an aquarium hood which has a glass plate on half and a plastic opening lid on the other. If I'm able to maitain temp with only UTH, is there any reason that I can't use the tube florescent bulb with the aquarium hood. It is plastic aroung the lighting area so I wouldn't be able to use a heat bulb there. The hood and light fixture have a wood paterned finish that match the tank trim and stand nicely but did I read that hermit crabs need the ultraviolet light?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:22 pm

yes hermies need full spectrum lighting, so if the hood has a fluorescent fixture you can go get a full spectrum bulb liek repti sun or sun glo and pop that in, put a timer on it to give them a steady day/night cycle and you'll be surprised at the difference in activity level in them! You might want to put the UTH on the side of the 30, that's a pretty big tank to try to heat through the substrate.

Mamakins · Post by **Mamakins** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:00 pm

Do the repti sun or sun glo bulbs not put out a lot of heat? I'm sure that's what I have in my spotlight in the 10 gal for heating. The light fixture with the aquarium hood is plastic so I'm thinking it would melt. Or do they make these bulbs that don't produce much heat but just provide the ultraviolet rays need.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:18 pm

fluorescent bulbs do not heat up like incandescent. Is the hood fixture for incandescent or fluorescent bulbs? If it's for incandescent then just pick a lower wattage bulb to prevent overheating, or use the lamp to heat the tank in the day and the mat to heat it in the night. All hoods have a recommended wattage, if you flip the light fixture part over, where you screw the bulbs in there should be a little note saying x - y wattage, or do not exceed x watts. If you don't exceed that many watts you shouldn't have to worry about the hood melting.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 9:28 pm

I have nearly the same hood you're talking about, it's plastic with wood print accents, half glass plate for lighting and a flourescent bulb. I discareded both the hood and the light fixture.
I now have plastic wrap over a metal mesh top, and my old 10 gallon hood/lighting ontop with two 15 watt incandescent bulbs. It heats up my 20 gallon perfectly, whereas my 10 gallon got overheated up to 95! Whew! It doesn't melt the plastic wrap either.

I don't know too much about lighting, so, yeah.. sorry

So I guess this didn't help any :roll:

Mamakins · Post by **Mamakins** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 10:10 pm

My 10 gallon was getting pretty warm with just the spotlight. In fact I haven't even been turning it on with the warm weather. I've been checking out some other sites and have read a couple saying to only use the moonglow bulbs??!.

I have no idea if the hood fixture is flourescent or incandescant. What's the difference anyway. (I guess I don't know a whole lot about lighting) I am hoping to provide most of the heat with a UTH and use low watt bulb just for the day/night difference. If I do need to use a light as a heat source then I like the idea of that one where you can put day glo on one side and night glo on the other with two different switches.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:10 am

incandescent bulbs you screw in like normal light bulbs, fluorescent bulbs are more tubular and slide into little slot like guys. I'lll go see if I can find a good picture.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:12 am

ok fluorescent bulb: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Leuc ... 050409.jpg

incandescent:
http://switchtec.en.alibaba.com/product ... _Lamp.html

What do the bulbs in the hood look like?

Post by **JediMasterThrash** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:46 pm

Having a proper hood or lamp with a reflective metal backing is improtant for the incandescent heat lights. It ensures that all the heat energy is aimed into the tank, and not out into the room. flourescents can have just white plastic backings.

Even a 25w incandescent gets too hot to touch, so I wouldn't put it in contact with plastic.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:23 am

I use a nightglo on my tank pretty much 24/7. Is this ok? Or should I get another lamp and timers so that I can have a daylight bulb on during the day and then switch to the nightglo at night?

Mamakins · Post by **Mamakins** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:24 am

Okay, so it's flourescent. So is the general opinion that I should scrap that and get an incandescent as a heat source? Is it possible to heat a 30g with just a UTH and to use the florescent light just as a light source? I did notice that they don't have moon glow florescent bulbs. at least not at my superpet. What is the general opinion of using ONLY moon glow bulbs? I have read that a few times now on other sites as well as a book I got from Cafepress.

Post by **JediMasterThrash** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:07 am

Hermit crabs in a stable tank who are not stressed should have a proper day/night cycle, including cycles in temperature, humdity, and lighting.

I would leave the moonglo on 24/7, and if you wanted more heat during the day, put a dayglo on a timer for the day. If you want more light during the day, put a flourescent UV on a day timer.

During the winter it's too cold to turn off all my moonglos, but during the summer now, I have 50w moonglos on at night, and then 50w more on day timers along with a reptisun 5.0.

So I get about 78o with 84% humidity at night, and 86o with about 66% humidity during the day.

Light and heat cycles help hinder the growth of some bad bacteria (or so I read from some of Sues posts).

Mamakins · Post by **Mamakins** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:57 am

Alright, I think I get it now. Sounds like one of those really expensive 3 way lights would be just the thing. I'll have to see what I can come up with. I think I saw something on a web site.

Thanks for all the info.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:27 am

if you can, find out what pet shops are across the border there and pop over one day. The dollar is so good right now and their supplies are SO much cheaper than ours it'd be worth it

Mamakins · Post by **Mamakins** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:38 pm

Thanks Thalia,

I've been meaning to pull out the Port Huron phone book. I work casually accross the border so I'm there a couple times a month. I know petsmart has free shipping over 50$. I use my friends US address when I shop online.That has saved me a bundle over the years. I have to say, I miss the high exchange rate on my paychecks though.

Thanks all for the input everyone. I think I now know what I need to do.