29G Tall Tank: Build Log with Pics.

[Shana's_mom]

You're welcome. Glad my mistake can help someone.

Nicte1983, thanks for sharing your mistake about your bottom. I was thinking of a similar idea. Now I know it won't work.

Someone should start a thread about "what not to do" when designing, making and heating our vivariums.

[beckdg]

Originally Posted by Shana's_mom

I don't recommend putting a sticky under-tank heater on the glass behind the GS foam BG. I did this, thinking it would be OK since it wouldn't come in contact with water. Not only did the heat not get through the BG but it ended up cracking my glass. (It happened in less than a week.) I guess the BG acted like an insulator and kept the heat on the glass. It was an Exo Terra glass tank.

By the way, I am using the Exo Terra Compact Top Canopy. (My new tank is 45 x 45 x 60 cm) I have 2 of them and they each hold two bulbs. I have one fitted with two Sun Glo incandescent bulbs and the other fitted with two Moon Glo incandescent bulbs. I leave the Moon Glo on 24 hours. My tank gets to 30C in the day and 20C at night. It is home to my daughter's two adorable White's Green Tree Frogs.

Love your set-up and write-up. Your frogs should be very happy.

water - metal - rock... something may have touched your glass causing uneven heat... or it may have been too close to the water. putting a heat mat behind gs is no different than under sand substrate.

did you use a desert mat in a tropical viv and then mist or fog??? was the heat mat faulty? there is an underlying issue here we are not seeing that is for sure. i have been using some sort of heat mat as long as i can remember. i have used them on fish tanks, tropicals, and deserts and never had any such issue. trust me the issue here is not using a heat mat, rather the heat mat you used (whether faulty or not) or something you overlooked.

remember heat melts glass if high enough... it's cold or rather cooling that cracks it. if your mat was faulty then heat could easily be concentrated in one small area making it much hotter than it should get causing rapid cooling in surrounding areas or when powered down. definitely not the addition of insulation making this happen.

last but not least... if the wall you place your viv against is a cool spot in your house it's likely that there is a draft the mat may have been working against causing a perpetual heating/cooling which is pretty likely to produce these results. it is common knowledge in the general hobby of putting animals in glass houses that drafty or cool areas of the house are suggested against. that alone could very well have been all you needed to avoid the whole cracking glass scenario.

now i know i might be coming off as pointing a finger but to take away one of our most IMPORTANT tools over 1 very unlikely mishap would imo be ridiculous. like i said there is an underlying cause and you might want to get your money back for your uth as it is very likely it is faulty in your case... not usually likely... but in your case i'd want my money back... and a couple freebies .

[Shana's_mom]

I have also been using heat mats for a long time, but always under my tanks or on the sides. Never have had problems. I decided, for the first time, to put one on my Exo Terra tank on the glass behind the background that came with the tank. It cracked my glass. The heater is not faulty and I've now been using it for many months on my cricket tank with no problems. My new tank has the lights I mentioned above as well as an under tank heating mat. I'm not against heating mats, just wanted to share my experience with one placed behind the background.

[beckdg]

understandable... sorry you had to go through that... better luck in the future.

[TimrekWTF]

A few update pictures if you're interested. Still no frogs but things are growing in pretty well. Still need to finish off the pump housing cover and get my creeping fig to ..... creep. Added one clipping of a lucky bamboo (not actually bamboo at all I know) to the pond area and thinned the Tills a bit. Enjoy.

Update 1.jpg Update 2.jpg Update 3.jpg

[beckdg]

looks good so far.

[Venomos]

Great build and alot of great information in here from everyone!

I would like to see an update on this if at all possible please? Did you get frogs in it yet? did your plants take off like you were hoping yet?

[TimrekWTF]

Thanks for the intrest Venomos. I'll try and get an updated pic here before long. Some of the plants took off well. The wandering jew, lilly (of some sort), and african violet are doing great! The tills I'm not having as much luck with. I don't know if I'm over watering or under watering. The creeping fig never did creep. I'm going to play around with the lighting in there and see if that doesn't help it grow some legs. Been thinking about trying to do watering with the water reserved from my fish tank water changes just to add some natural ferts. Never did get a frog to put in there. I was never satisfied with the amount of terrestrial room and as I was planning the enclosure for a White's I realized the plants that I chose wouldn't be much suited for a frog that size. I thought about doing a Red Eyed Tree Frog but they can be very tempramental. Long story short I wasn't willing to wait to get what I needed. I went to Lowe's and grabbed the first tropical looking plants just so I could see some green lol. I have been thinking of tearing the tank apart and making a 50/50 paludarium with some larger PDFs on top and some tetra's on the bottom. I've learned alot from this one and hope the next one I can improve my technique (and my patience).