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How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 8:47 am
by Persia352
Hello Everyone!
I am currently saving up for a 55 gallon acrylic tank. There is absolutely no way I could ever handle a heavy glass one at my age. How do you heat these safely please. I live in Florida and my mobile home never gets very cold. I really appreciate any help you cab give me!
Love,
T
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 4:24 pm
by The Franckinator
Well, since it is the same size as my 55 gallon glass tank and you would be putting the same amount of substrate and all that, I'll just quote some stuff from my crab journal:
1. He's in a 55 gallon tank right now. The lid is wired, but has saran wrap taped to the top to hold in humidity. I often remove/replace the wrap to adjust for humidity changes...
7. Humidity and heating -
**********Humidity: moist sphagnum moss as I've said. The water dishes also help. I have also soaked the corners one time with a 1/4 cup of water, which helped a lot and that pretty much ended my spray bottle dependency. As of 5/18, I have recently made a bubble pool setup and am in the process of putting it in the 55 gallon. I've pretty much been able to keep the humidity at a stable 85% lately, due to everything I do; sometimes it'll rise to 90% and I'll just remove some saran wrap. The only time it will lower is when I have to actually take off the lid completely.
**********Heating: Three UTH pads on the sides of the tank: one small pad on the footlong side built for 10 gallons; one variable temp Nat Geo UTH built for 20-30 gallons; and one variable temp Nat Geo UTH built for 40 gallons. Both var. temp UTHs are on the long side and are positioned with the "warm" end medial and the "hot" end lateral.
However, I would do some research before putting UTHs on an acrylic aquarium. Some people say certain kinds are okay and others say it's straight up bad. I really don't know what to say besides you might have to end up using lights. I do use four UTHs now and a
Bundy humidifier.
Also, take into account the ambient temperature and humidity of your house.
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 9:28 pm
by aussieJJDude
If a UTH can go on a tote, I assume that it would be fine for a acrylic tank. Just letting you know, acrylic tank are prone to scratching easily, so a crab thats covered with sand and decides to go "window walking" will result in a very scratched up tank.
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 5:16 am
by The Franckinator
Yeah, some were saying that the acrylic might crack from all of the heat. And then others thought it would be just fine. Persia, I think it would benefit you to ask on Yahoo Answers about that - just to see if anyone has had experience with that. Or check out some reptile forums, which is what I was doing when I answered yesterday.
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 5:34 am
by aussieJJDude
I personally don't think it would. If its the good quality stuff, it shouldn't. I always thought of Acrylic melting or deforming, rather than cracking. Of course, could be wrong....
Anyway, people when having 200+ gallon fish tank use acrylic as its cheaper, stronger and easier to use. Not to mention, lighter than glass. If acrylic can hold gallons and gallons of water, it should be able to withstand a bit of heat IMO. Of course, I never placed a UTH on acrylic for an period of time, but rather assumptions on how acrylic "behaves" by applying the basic research into a hypothesis.
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 9:30 am
by Persia352
I think I will go with 4 of the mini uth to heat my new tank when I get it. The kind they say is safe for the kritter keepers. A glass tank is simply out of the question for me to try and lift. Thank -you all for all your help with this.
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 10:20 am
by The Franckinator
If you're going to use mini UTHs, then you will need more than 4. I have two large ones and two made for 10 gallons. You'd probably need to position at least 6 of them along the tank walls depending on how big they are. And truthfully, if you end up doing that, I'm not sure how different that would be from just putting a big UTH on there because of all the heat they will produce.
But you do live in Florida so maybe a four minis will work. Let us know what works
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2016 6:34 pm
by soilentgringa
It is better to use the largest UTH you can fit on your tank. Applying multiple UTH's can be a fire hazard.
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 11:24 am
by Persia352
I am just going to go with a 50 gallon tote. I have had no luck with trying to buy one second hand where I live. The new ones are OUTRAGEOUS. I simply have no green things growing on my trees so I am going this route LOL Again many thanks! I know some people have posted great luck with UTH on plastic tubs on here. i am going to reread those now.:0
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:32 am
by KayedeeLove<3
This website is where im ordering my UTH for the winter... Reptile basics! For a 55 gal it was like 30 bucks but its top of the line (can be insulated). Good luck!
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Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:35 am
by KayedeeLove<3
The ones at petsmart ARE outrageous. They want 50$ for ones way to small for a 55 here in Jacksonville!
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Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:27 pm
by The Franckinator
KayedeeLove<3 wrote:The ones at petsmart ARE outrageous. They want 50$ for ones way to small for a 55 here in Jacksonville!
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Dang, Imma check that out
Re: How to heat a 55 Gallon Acrylic Tank
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:32 pm
by KayedeeLove<3
They are the 'recommended' brand on here (ultratherms)
Reptilebasic.com! To get max potential (more heat) you can tack it on the tank then insulate with styrofoam, card board, or aluminum foil (or a combo of all 3). Good luck
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