Heating a 10 Gallon Tank

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:23 am

Currently I have a 10 gallon aquarium, and for heat I have 2 UTH's (10-20 gallon size) on each side of the tank. When I woke up this morning, the temp in the tank was 72. If I buy a clamp lamp, what should I use in it to keep them warm, or will a clamp lamp make it too warm in there? Other options?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:35 am

It really depends on the wattage of the bulb and how close you have it above your tank. But IMO two UTH and a clamp lamp for a ten gal. might be a tad too hot for the hermies. Try it and keep a close eye on the temp. If it goes up I would place it farther away. BTW, what do you keep your termostat in your house at?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:43 am

it's our first cold spell here, and i keep the heat at 69 degrees at night and 70 or 71 during the day. I haven't bought a clamp lamp yet, but was asking if I should. I need a way to raise the temp only about 5 degrees.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:49 am

Have you tried wrapping a blanket around your tank at night? I have to do that here when it starts to freeze. Our insulation sucks in this house!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:59 am

i was afraid to do that because of the uth's. is it okay for fabric to be touching the uth's? if it is, then i can definitely do that!

saberkitty · Post by **saberkitty** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:04 pm

I've had a blanket wrapped around 3 sides of my 55 gallon since I set it up last March and use a 50-60 gallon uth in summer and also another 30-40 in the winter, our basement is usually only about 65-68 in the winter. I haven't had any problems.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:57 pm

I've wrapped tanks before but I don't cover any electrical components.I agree that two UTH's and a bulb might be a bit too much for such a small tank. Where do you have your tank (specifically), at what height are your gauges mounted and what do you have for a lid?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:09 pm

It depends some blankets are flammable and some are flame retardant.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:21 pm

Thanks for your reply Abby. Here is my tank currently: We keep our tank in our living/dining room. The yucky humidity gauge I keep just above the substrate on the left. (I've got the Zilla Hygrometer/Thermomter combo on the way. Ordered it yesterday) The white cord hanging down in the middle of the crabitat is my cord to the digital thermometer. You can see my 2 20-30 gallon UTH's on both sides of the tank, the right and the left. My lid is a screened lid with 80% of it covered with saran wrap and taped to the lid. The light you see on top is just a desk light with a 15 watt moon glo bulb in it. That doesn't provide any heat, the only use is so that we can see in the tank at night. The black on the back of the tank is just construction paper that I taped back there to give the hermies more privacy. Also, Of the 6 hermies I have, 3 are buried...either molting or hiding. I can't see them so I don't know what they are doing. It doesn't smell in the tank so I'm assuming they are doing fine.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:39 pm

If you have multiple UTH's it's best to mount them on the same side so that the crabs have a dual zone cosisting of a warm side and a slightly cooler one to choose from.I don't normally recommend bulbs for such small tanks because they can overheat pretty easily but you can try a very low watt bulb aimed at one end. I wouldn't set it on the tank top though just because 10's are so short it puts the heat in very close proximity to them.Any chance you can swing $10+ on a glass versa top? Something a little more solid might help keep the heat in. Or do you have a warmer spot within the home you can move the tank to? If you have a basement furnace, typically the room situated right above it is one of the warmer ones. You could also try insulating the recess beneath the tank with a hand towel, or setting a blanket beneath the tank. I find it helps keep the lower substrate from becoming very cold which helps slow the temp from dropping.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:02 pm

oh sure i can swing 10 bucks. can i get that top at petco? it's the only pet store where I live. I live in the south, so we don't generally have furnaces here. We have a heat pump. We generally don't have basements in the south either. So the temp in our house is pretty much the same in every room. (Heat and A/C is what my hubby does for a living)I'm kind of glad I put the UTH's on either side of the tank right now. Because I had one crab go under the sand on one side next to the UTH, and 2 crabs went down on the other side next to the UTH. Seems mine all like to bury next to the heat source, and I'd hate for them all to be trying to bury on one side of the tank. Only one of my hermies tends to hang out in the middle of the tank.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:17 pm

Yeah they sell them in petco/petsmart stores and can order them if they don't have one in stock. Online they're $10, so I'm guessing they might be as much as $15 but they do make a huge difference. I only paid $50 for a VT for my 72 bow tank and I thought it would be mega expensive because of the bow.

saberkitty · Post by **saberkitty** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:29 pm

Oh, Amy, I'm glad you mentioned they like to bury by the UTH. I've been meaning to post about how important is, for me at least, to frequently check the substrate for dryness right in front of the uth. It can get really dry very quickly.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:35 pm

Thanks Abby. I'll my local Petco tomorrow to see if they have them in stock. If so, I'll go get one. If not, I guess I'll have to find and order one online. (hate those shipping fees!)saberkitty, yeah...i've noticed the dryness next to the UTH's. But all I can do is mist the top with salt water at this point, because I don't want to disturb the molters.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:12 am

Amy make a few local calls first to see if someone can order one for you before going online. I ordered one through Aqua Addicts, a local aquarium shop and they ate the shipping cost, all I had to pay for was the lid.