Upgrading from 29 to 40, and science knowledge failing me

[Lady WolfStorm]

Science was never my strong suit in school. I still hate it, and it's apparent in my choices.

I decided to move my crab tank to the basement, where it can remain "out of the way" of potential future projects (wanted to "tear down" the crab tank and get it set up somewhere else while working on my dining room, and be "done with it" for awhile).

I set up the 40 gallon tank with 100 pounds of sand and Eco-Earth, got a glass lid to hold humidity better, and everything was almost perfect. The tank before adding any lighting or humidifier was at 65 degrees F and 80-85% humidity. Ideally, it would be at least 70 degrees for me (80 degrees for the crabs) and 80% humidity. This is where the science logic I have failed me.

I thought to put the 60W lightbulb I had specially for UVA/UVB sun rays and heat on the glass lid, thinking the heat would "transfer" to the tank like sun rays does to a closed up car. I knew it would reflect some of the heat, but thought it would still transfer some. Stepped away for 20 minutes and came back. Temperature did not increase at all in the tank. Instead, it cracked my lid!

Tried an "under tank heater" mounted on the side. Still no increase in heat. I am at a loss here. I am about to give up and keep the crabs upstairs (how to transfer all that upstairs will be the challenge). Right now there are 5-7 crabs in a 10 gallon tank and cramped so I don't want to keep them there for much longer...

[KellyCrabbieLove]

Stupid question but is everything plugged in all the way? Can you touch them and feel the heat (so you know it is working)? Have you tried insulation? Yeah, never put heat lamps on glass. Always a bad idea. It may even say it on the package, the one I had did. Do you have room for another uth on the back?

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[Lady WolfStorm]

Stupid question but is everything plugged in all the way? Can you touch them and feel the heat (so you know it is working)? Have you tried insulation? Yeah, never put heat lamps on glass. Always a bad idea. It may even say it on the package, the one I had did. Do you have room for another uth on the back?

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Yes, I can feel the heat on the outside, and when I set my hand in side I feel a little heat from the glass, so I know it's "working". Just not enough heat to heat up the tank. I'll check on it when I get home tonight. I have plenty of room yet to add more heat, but the idea was (at least I hoped) was to be able to access the tank from more angles.. never had I thought how "insulated" it was up against a wall in a corner was going to be a "good" thing.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

I covered my uth with thick styrofoam from home depot and it upped my temp another 5 degrees. I have solid custom glass lids too so no gap in the back, just a notched corner on each piece to allow me to pick it up or feed in wires for my filters.

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[aussieJJDude]

How big is the UTH? If it's undersized, no matter what you do you never get it to your comfort levels (for the crabs). Plus when the room is 65F, a large UTH(s) are - almost - required to get as much heat as you can in there.

[rainbow_crab]

Insulating the tank will help a lot. I have larger tanks and have a lot of large uth attached to the sides, but it was not doing the trick alone, so insulation helped a lot! Styrofoam, foil, a combination of both can help maintain the heat in the tank. Heat lamps can help but they also zap the humidity.

[Lady WolfStorm]

It was still 65 when I got home. I will try the insulation idea and pick up a larger heat mat.

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[Lady WolfStorm]

I did put most of he crabs in the tank last night and saw them grouped together near the heat pad so I know the tank is a bit cool. I moved them back upstairs where its closer to 70-72 until the temp is fixed.

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[Lady WolfStorm]

So I asked my hubby to insulate the tank while I pick up another UTH. Whether it was from the 10 g UTH or insulation from aluminum foil, it went up from 65 to 67 degrees!

Petco had only 1 UTH for 30 to 40 gallon, and 1 for the size bigger. With no actual dimensions of package, I took the bigger one and compared it to the side of the tank in store. Thought it was almost too big, so I went with the 30-40. Slapped it on the other end and now we wait.

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[KellyCrabbieLove]

Pick up a sheet of styrofoam (typically come in 6 packs) from home depot and add that too. It will give you a few more degrees. I fought sooo hard with mine. Wode and Calla convinced me to do it and it was a shocking difference. The entire back of my 125 is covered in ultratherms and styrofoam. I jumped 7 degrees when I did it. Use black gorilla tape instead of duck tape because it is stronger and you can use it on the edges of it wherwnit shows on the back where the back meets the first corner with the sides to hide the styrofoam from view.

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[megmaholm]

Make sure the UTH can be safely covered with Styrofoam before you go that route. As far as I know none of the pet store ones can be.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

Lol I did it anyway on my 10 gal

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[Lady WolfStorm]

I give up. I spent close to 150 dollars just to fix the temperature issue. I bought a screen lid today. Glass lid is doubled over and covering 1/2 the tank since the broken half is useless. A piece broke completely off and I broke it even more trying to piece it together. I lost most of my humidity in the process. I have towels covering the other half of the screen lid, and its all one piece so I have a lot of work just to feed the dang things. I refuse to cover the tank in foil or Styrofoam. What's the point of having these guys if you can never see them when they are out and no light can get to them.



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[wodesorel]

To heat 20 degrees, you'd almost have to use an Ultratherm across the entire back. The pads you can buy in the stores are not going to heat enough, they can usually only give you 10 degrees at the very best (it's usually more like a few degrees) and most cannot be safely insulated.

The only piece of sytrofoam you'd need is behind the Ultratherm. That is enough to reflect the heat and warm the entire tank up.

We used to always recommend a pad as big as the entire back of the tank, and this is why! A half-covered back is not always enough, and then people get stuck having spent money on something that doesn't work.