Lid help

[Feralhound07]

Hi there, I'm new at keeping crabs, and I'm trying to do everything to give my future crabs the best setup possible. I recently turned one of my tanks (20 long) into a crabitat, and got a heat resistant mesh lid. The heating I choose was ceramic 60 watt bulb, which keeps the habitat nice and warm around 80-85F (I just plugged it in yesterday so I'm still watching it making sure it doesn't get too hot. Right now I put tin foil over the top of the lid to keep the humidity/heat in, but obviously that's not going to work since it needs somewhere to have the light shine in it during the day. Because of the heater I know I'm limited what I can use, I can't use plexiglass since it will melt, as well as Saran wrap. Can't use a full glass cover since I need to have some sort of hole for the heat to get into the tank. does anyone have any suggestions? Also do I need to keep the lid completely covered or can it have a little gap?

[CallaLily]

I put aluminum foil over my lids with cutouts just under the lights. This works pretty well for me but even better with a humidifier piped into the tank. You have to find a balance of keeping enough heat and humidity in but still allowing for some air flow. If you don't have bubblers in your pools or a humidifier bringing in and moving air in your tank, I recommend leaving a small gap on the lid to help with airflow.

[Feralhound07]

Ah makes sense, thank you! Unfortunenly my light is not just over the lid, but more angled at the tank- which I may change. I just took a trip to Home Depot, someone told me about this light covering sheet (mostly used for fluorescent lights in the ceiling of businesses) to help keep the heat in her gecko tank. While there I found two pieces of already cut glass, one 10x12 and the other 12x16. Ended up getting those to go under the mesh lid, it leaves just enough of a gap so the ceramic bulb is not blocked I do plan to have bubblers in the pools, still going to see if I can get away with that section open or if I need to cut out a hole in a peice of aluminum foil.