HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm at a complete loss here, so I figured I'd ask in here if anyone has experience with mounting fluorescent lights inside of a tank.

I've been planning on upgrading my crabs from their current tank to the 55 gallon that I have, and part of that plan included putting a T5 UVB light inside the tank, under the screen. This, of course, would require some kind of power (a ballast, perhaps?) and some kind of mounting. Main issue?

I have no idea how to do either of those. This is especially regarding crab safety! Research tells me that the UVB bulbs don't run hot. But three out of four of my crabs are avid climbers, especially over the screen, and I worry about someone climbing onto the light/electrocuting themselves by pinching a wire. So, to those of you who've installed a light inside the tank, I ask you:

- how do you crab-proof the light?
- how do you power/mount the light inside?
- what other general safety concerns/tips would you have regarding UVB lighting?

I like to use airline, slit it lenghtwise and then push the wire in the airline and you have a pretty safe setup. As for the light itself, you could ziptie some pieces of plexi glass strips around the light itself (like 2-3inch wide) so the crabs cant touch the light - IMO its more a worry the UV radiation they get rather than the heat output...

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More a worry of the UV radiation they get? I'm reading that as "It's more important for them to get UVA/UVB then to fuss over the heat of the light". Am I understanding that correctly?

Persea wrote:More a worry of the UV radiation they get? I'm reading that as "It's more important for them to get UVA/UVB then to fuss over the heat of the light". Am I understanding that correctly?

Yes, but the closer they get too the light, the stronger the UV rays. Many companies also list in the min/max distance for healthy UV exposure.

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If you are looking at a T5 HO, those suckers get hot enough to burn when touched directly. They don't put out much excess heat weirdly enough. Stupid me tried to swap the bulbs on my two a couple weeks ago while they had been on all day and my fingers nearly ended up with blisters.

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wodesorel wrote:If you are looking at a T5 HO, those suckers get hot enough to burn when touched directly. They don't put out much excess heat weirdly enough. Stupid me tried to swap the bulbs on my two a couple weeks ago while they had been on all day and my fingers nearly ended up with blisters.

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That is true... i tend to forgot how hot they can run at time ever since I switched over to LED - they run hot, but not burning to touch hot.

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I can carefully swap a T8 or T12 that has been running all day without hurting myself, but my two T5s are way hotter for some reason. They are supposed to put out the best UVB though so it is worth it. I just have mine over the screen as that is what they were designed for.

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