What do you use for lighting/heat

This is where you discuss the conditions of your crabitat -- temperature, humidity, substrate, decorating, etc.
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Julsie
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What do you use for lighting/heat

Post by Julsie » Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:41 am

Currently I have two dome lamps sat on top of the tank lid one for day time heat and a hermit crab moonlight bulb for night. But i’m tired of having to adjust the light when opening or closing and I don’t like how they sit on the tank. What do you use? And would you recommend the screenshots down below? ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage
I have uths as well and I’m buying more but my tank temperature never reaches more than 75 degrees and sits at 72-73 at lowest.

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Last edited by Julsie on Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Julsie
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Joined: Thu Dec 26, 2019 6:39 am
Location: Texas

Re: What do you use for lighting/heat

Post by Julsie » Thu Feb 27, 2020 2:00 am

Ignore my messy table but this is what it currently looks like. I have a 75 gal and I want something that covers the entire tank thats why i’m thinking the strip light hood? The tank came with one but the lights I believe are used for fish.. I never turn it on. ImageImage


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Motörcrab
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Re: What do you use for lighting/heat

Post by Motörcrab » Thu Feb 27, 2020 7:36 am

The easiest approach to heating is to use Under Tank Heaters on your crabitat. They are placed on the rear glass of the tank above the substrate. Fleabag will guide you on more information.
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=119297&p=1073229&h ... s#p1072369

On my 75 I use one aquarium light that covers half the tank. The other is just a dome light with an UVB bulb. I I leave the aquarium light on the back and rarely have to move it.

The other side with the done light I use a plexiglass lid in the summer months. My UVB bulb shines directly into the tank with that.
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DevilNDisguise
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Re: What do you use for lighting/heat

Post by DevilNDisguise » Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:58 am

My 75g is heated with an Ultratherm UTH (under tank heater) that is along the back. It's as long as the tank and extends from the top of the surface of the substrate to the top of the tank. I have to use a thermostat to control the heat; before I set it up and before the crabs officially moved in, the tank reached about 95-ish degrees.

For lighting, I currently only have a small LED strip light so they're not in total darkness all the time, and I have a timer for it that I still need to set up (gradually dims until it turns off, then will gradually lighten when it's turning back on, mimicking sunset/sunrise). I have to figure out how to keep it up, though, because the suction cups it comes with just don't hold up in the tank.

In the future I would like to add a UVB strip. I've read up and seen many opinions on whether or not they actually are beneficial to hermit crabs, and have decided to eventually invest in one. That will be another project, figuring out how to rig it inside of the tank.
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