Heating a 10 Gallon Tank

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:36 am

We only have 2 places here. petco and an aquarium store....but I will ask both of them.

NewCrabber · Post by **NewCrabber** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:01 am

Walmart stores carry them, or did at one time. If you have one nearby I'd give them a call too.I'm curious to know if the glass lid makes enough of a difference where temp is concerned. Will you let us know?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:25 am

i'll be checking around. they are only 8.99 online, but it's 9.99 shipping...so I definitely need to find someone who has it or will order it for me so i can get out of that shipping charge.I'll for sure keep you updated NewCrabber

NewCrabber · Post by **NewCrabber** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:40 am

Thanks. I was thinking that if a glass lid doesn't help enough maybe putting the bulb in a clamp lamp might do the trick. You're not getting anything out of it now because it's not close enough to the tank. I used a 15w moon-glo in a strip fixture, set on top of a glass lid over a 10 and it became impossible keeping up with the tank drying out. It was a challenge to maintain temp, too (the substrate was pretty deep). I've also used two 15w bulbs the same way over a 40B and got a 3 to 5 degree increase. I don't usually recommend bulbs on a 10 and you may not be able to get it close enough without it presenting the challenges I had, but it might be worth a try and you should be able to return it if it doesn't work out. Just a thought.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:35 am

yeah, i think this is just one of those things that will take trial and error to figure out. Right now I'm basically constantly checking the tank to make sure it's warm enough and that the humidity isn't too high since I've had a problem with mold. I'm planning on moving up to a much bigger tank in January, and will use this 10 gallon as an ISO...so at least by then I should have it all figured out. Plus, I'll know more about how to set up the big tank at that point.I actually bought a lighted fish tank lid for the aquarium, but even with punching out the back parts, the humidity was way too high. But of course, that was right after I had mixed eco earth into the sand with water...so that could have caused the humidity spike too. So that's another option, I could retry using the lighted hood.I really appreciate all the advice. I'm going to print this thread so I'll have access to all the info.