plexiglass tank?

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 6:35 pm

I told my mom that I wanted a glass 15 gallon tank for my birthday, but she ended up ordering a plexiglass one which came today. I am thinking about using it, but I'm not sure how sturdy it would be or if it would keep in heat/humidity. it would be definatly weigh less, which is nice. I have to decide if I want it pretty soon though, or send it back, but i wanted to see if anyone here has had experience with this.

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 6:47 pm

It would be sturdy and hold humidity but you would have a problem with the heat. Plexiglass warps when heated so you couldn't use a UTH or heat lamps and that means cold hermies in the winter.

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 8:44 pm

thank you kaep, for pointing that out to me. i cannot believe that i forgot about plexiglass warping under heat! i mean, i had to throw out one plexiglass lid because my heat lamp warped it.

but do you think a UTH would warp it? the heat would be more evenly distributed, and the plexiglass would not get as hot...

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:33 pm

I had thought I read it was the type of plexiglas that warped? I am not sure. I know the thin stuff I have did a bit. I thought there was another type.

Kathy

nora · Post by **nora** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:33 am

For what it is worth,I have an acrylic (plexiglass) tank and my Cobra uth works fine. It is a 50g and it is pretty thick acrylic(3/8"). It holds heat and humidity far better than my glass tanks. I use wooden 1" spacers under my heat lamp and haven't had a problem with warping. I'm sure if the lamp was left directly on the plexi it would warp. It does scratch easier than glass,but you can buff some of it out. The nice thing about the tank is it is light weight and it won't crack. You could email the company about the temp. restrictions of your tank. I use a thinner plexi cover and if it starts to warp one way I just flip it over, and this seems to work.

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:34 am

thanks for the input nora! I just emailed the site my mom got the tank from to ask them about warping. the reason the plexiglass tank is looking really good to me is that (and I'll be the first to admit) that I'm a weak 100 lb girl with next to no muscle, so the lighter tank would be sooo much easier for me to handle.

Caroline

nora · Post by **nora** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:21 pm

Oh, another thing I forgot is that the plexi conducts less heat(with the uth on the bottom) and I do have a piece of rigid foam insulation under the tank. Actually I have rigid foam under all my tanks because I figure it stabilizes the heat better and will hold the heat in when we have power outages. This occurs frequently during the winter and spring months. Also it is a challenge to have regular suction cups hold up but I have found the bath ones that can be found at Target work great. I'm also small and it is easier to have a lighter tank.

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:30 pm

okay, I'm trying to picture this in my mind: you have a strip of foam on the very bottom (how thick?), then the UTH, then the tank proped up by suction cups. do you put the adhesive side of the UTH on the bottom of the tank, or on the foam?

here's the reply I got from the glasscages.com people, who were suprisingly quick to get back to me:

I know customers use UTH all the time. No one has told us about warping . We
don't suggest the tank heaters be glued to either glass or acrylic tanks but
rather have a space between the tank and the heater. The other option is a
heat lamp.

All acrylic bows over time whether it has a heater on it or not.

out of curiosity, where did you get your tank nora?

Caroline

nora · Post by **nora** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:13 pm

The pink rigid foam insulation is 1" thick. It can be purchased at any lumber-bldg. supply store. I have my Cobra heat mat directly on the insulation with the tank sitting directly on it. The Cobra uth doesn't have a sticky side. You can use insulation tape to adhere it to the tank bottom though. My tank has the seams heat sealed which means there isn't a frame- work around it. I think you could put your uth on the foam,raise the tank off the foam with lengths of sticks (which correspond to the width of the "feet" that comes with your uth) and it would be okay. If you use just the feet it would sink into the foam. I'm using a rheostat right now to keep the heat going at a very low temp. because it is very hot these past few weeks in Seattle. In my tanks that I have no rheostat I use a simple piece of square slate over the uth area in the tank. It is simple and effective. Yvette from CSJ helped me with this info. I would do this in my plexi but I would be moving my two filtered pools and 45% of the substrate. I'm way too lazy because I did a deep clean about a month ago because I had a springtail explosion. My family found my tank at Goodwill and it cost $3.99. This tank has been setup for awhile now. I did grid out the temp. readings in the tank and recorded them because it was such a bigger tank than the ones I had before it. I wanted to make sure there wasn't a spot too hot for the hermies. Also, I do have radiant floor heating in my house and I don't know how that contributes to the temps( turned off in Apr. and on in Oct.). If GlassCages suggest you keep a distance between the uth and the tank I would try that first. Will you be using your uth from your smaller tank to the larger upgrade?

nora · Post by **nora** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:28 pm

Oh , and the rigid foam covers the entire bottom surface with 1/2" extra on each side of the tank.

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 5:59 pm

actually, the 15 gallon tank is a down grade, right now I have a 20L. I'm down grading now because in less than a month I'll be heading back to a college dorm, where space is really a premium. don't worry though, my crabs' size distribution fits a 15 gallon, I made sure to account for that when adding to my family.

I will be leaving my current UTH on the 20L, partially because it would be annoying to take it off (its stuck to it rather well) and also because I plan to reuse the 20L every summer when I have more room. I also have a small light that I can put on the cage, but the humidity really suffers when I do that.

so I can get the foam from somewhere like lowes? that where I got my plexiglass lid for the 20L.

again, thanks for your help, thanks to your experience and input I think i'll keep the plexiglass tank rather than send it back.

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:35 pm

Caroline:

I ordered from glasscages.com too and let me tell you I think they have great deals (I think you'll agree) except for the fact that they are acrylic...but just a minor flaw, right?

nora:

So explain again exactly what you do to keep your tank from...ummm..."warping". I wasn't familiar with this, and since I'm planning on getting a UTH as soon as I can, I'm glad I read this post or my brand-new 20L tank could've been ruined

You said to put...styrofoam was it...under the tank THEN the UTH is glued to the styrofoam. Sorry, I just want to clear it up before I go ruining my tank

Any help is appreciated on the subject...

nora · Post by **nora** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:21 pm

The setup is a metro rack,then a plank of pink rigid insulation,then the T-Rex Cobra heat mat, then the 50g sitting directly on the uth. My 20g,20gL glass tanks have the rigid insulation, spacers, the uth stuck to the bottom of the tank(these are not Cobra heat mats)which seem to be on permanently per their directions. The Cobra is very thin,flexible,and repositionable. When I did the research on this it was listed ok for using on acrylic tanks,although this may have changed. It is also listed ok for use inside a terrarium or vivarium. What uth will you be using? The size of the tank and the wattage have to be considered. I do remember it is suggested that a thermostat be used to keep the temp. even in the 11"x17"heat mat. My 2 deep cleans I haven't noticed the bottom being warped. What warps is the cheap plexiglass I have near my lights on top of the tank. When this starts to happen I just flip over the plexi. If you are really worried about the bottom warping I would tape the uth to the bottom of the tank then use the spacers between the tank and the insulation(if you will be using the insulation). All the different uth I have on my tanks have huge swings in temp. so I would take the time to find and alleviate all hot spots in the substrate before you put in your crabbies.
Hope this info will help.

nora · Post by **nora** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:30 pm

annopia, lowes should have the rigid insulation. It comes in big sheets.