Can I clean tank with under tank heater?

[sachen]

For my leopard gecko tank I use an under tank heater. Under tank heater will cause stress cracks if water is directly over the glass where the under tank heater is when the under tank heater is heated. I want help on how to clean with a under tank heater. This question may be dumb but I am a beginner about to get a leopard gecko and I don't to ruin my tank and I can't take the under tank heater off when it is in place.

 

[Kmay571]

I just use a spray cleaner, I don't soak it with water.


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[JoulesBurn]

You can just pick up most of the mess with a paper towel and then use a clean one to spray with cleaner and wipe it off. You shouldn't need to actually dump water into the tank to clean. And if you did want to soak the tank then you should unplug the heat mat and let it cool to room temp before attempting.

Also, it's usually a pretty decent temp difference that causes glass to crack like this. How hot is the bottom of your tank? It should only be about 88-90F so that a little lukewarm water should not make it crack.

 

[indyana]

Usually I do a quick spray-and-wipe, but when I want to do a deep cleaning, I actually unplug the UTH ahead of time and let the floor cool off a bit. Then, I can scrub and rinse the entire tank. I dry well before I set everything back up and plug in again.