What do i need for a 55 gallon tank?

[Moe]

What do i need for a 55 gallon tank? and other questions.

I recently bought a leopard gecko with a 55 gallon tank for it
i bought a UTH and a infrared 75 watt lamp

but the problem is i don't have enough money to get a aquarium stand and another heat pad for the bottom of the tank just yet and its getting cold outside

so i put my zoo med under tank heater on the side of the tank like the directions said, the directions say to do that if you don't have a aquarium stand to vent the heat. if i would have known you need to vent the UTH i would have just bought another lamp :main_angry:

is this good enough to heat the tank up efficiently?

or should i buy a heat rock for his belly since he needs heat for his belly? until i can afford another heat pad and stand?

or will the infrared heat lamp be sufficient enough for belly heat? the infrared lamp does pretty good heating one area and he sleeps by it constantly (at around 90 to 100 degrees) after playing and hunting for at least 10 small crickets(yea he eats a lot)

because i read that 150 watts is what you need to heat a 55 gallon tank, i was wondering should i just get a heat rock, a extra 75 watt lamp or just buy another heat pad later? what should i do?

or will what i got right now be fine? and just get a heat rock for his belly with a thermostat attached to it?

 

[aburningflame]

if you were using such a big tank - you should have foreseen that heating would be a problem. anyhow, by "venting" the heat, all they mean is that there needs to be a small gap between whatever the terrarium is resting on and the actual terrarium.

it should have come with small feet that you can put on each of the 4 corners to keep it raised. if you have wood, you can cut little squares of wood to put on each of the 4 corners - be careful taht no1 will bump into it.
anyways, you jus need a small one inch gap or so.

dont get a heat rock - leopard geckos will lay on it until their skin burns.

the combination of heatpad+lamp should be fine - although i dont use lamps at all.

if you can get your surface temp on the hot sideto 86-95F during the day, and 75-80F durin the night - you should be perfectly fine. try not to dip below 70F at night.

other than that you should be fine - i use UTHs on 2 tanks constantly plugged in. no bulbs.

and although people say they cant see red light - i think they MAY be able to detect it - my albinos pupils dilate wen the small red viewing LED is pointed at his face.


anyways - hope this helps.

 

[Moe]

anyways, you jus need a small one inch gap .

thats it!? just 1 inch!? darnit! now i wasted 30 dollars on this heat pad:main_angry:

i thought you needed alot of air for the heat pad to breathe?

seems like thats what they meant on the zoo med directions:main_huh:

i thought lack of ventilation under the tank caused cracks to the glass


so i shouldnt buy a heat rock

so should i buy another heat pad for the winter for his belly? or should i just keep the heat pad on the side of the tank? and let his belly warm up from the red lamp?:main_huh::main_robin:


i hate the fact that theres not alot of readily available information on the internet about heat pads, i googled for hours for info on heat pads

 

[aburningflame]

Wait up..I dont think you understand me.

For a 55gallon, you should need 1 heat pad - covering probaly 20% of the tank or so.
This heat pad should be on 1 side of the tank.

Cool side should be like 75F and hot side should be 87-90F. With the middle being in between.

You need to raise the tank off the stand a bit (using bump on feet) to allow any excess heat to escape. Your heat mat should be under the tank (attached to the glass between the tank and the table) - not on the side of the tank.

Also - if your heat pad isnt bringin the area past 86F, you can add a small overhead bulb - make sure that theres dark places for them to hide out of hte light though. Put a digital thermoteter in teh dark hides - surface temp should be 86F+

 

[aburningflame]

your UTH should be providing the under belly heat - hence why its called an UNDER tank heater...cuz it goes under the tank.

if you have one of those commercial hides - you can place a daybulb over the hide - this way it heats the top of the hide - and the gecko will hide inside the hide - away from the light, but the inside of the hide will be heated by the day blub. turn the bulb off at night (unless its infrared - then its your choice)

i only use a UTH plugged in 24/7 and a small viewing red LED

 

[Moe]

i understand you, its just i dont trust lamps

thanks for the info burningflame

i just hope i dont burn my gecko with the lamps

i "might" just tear off the heat pad on the side of my tank and buy another heat pad for the bottom of the tank

but im trying to save money so idk

i dont trust lamps my gecko seems like hes getting sun burned :main_cool3:

 

[Moe]

your UTH should be providing the under belly heat - hence why its called an UNDER tank heater..

lol. why did the directions say install the heat pad on the side of the tank then instead of the bottom and not tell me 1nch is all you need between the surface and the tank? idk. zoo med confused me with that one. hope i can get somthing going for his belly though

 

[Moe]

if you can get your surface temp on the hot sideto 86-95F during the day, and 75-80F .

a pet store worker told me that it can get up to 105 degrees in a gecko tank and that would be good, like right under the light. is that true?

 

[Knibitz]

lol. why did the directions say install the heat pad on the side of the tank then instead of the bottom and not tell me 1nch is all you need between the surface and the tank? idk. zoo med confused me with that one. hope i can get somthing going for his belly though

I have that same UTH and followed the directions.
Notice that it says "preferred" not "necessary" when it comes to side mounting
I think the main concern is damaging antique furniture or burning it because it's older wood, or burning the fabric.

The whole reason they give you the rubber feet is to get it up off the table, dresser, etc. They even say that in the directions. They don't say anything about how far it needs to be other than "...stick the rubber feet to each of the four bottom corners of your terrarium. This allows SLIGHT ELEVATION of the terrarium thus allowing excess heat to escape (very important)." (Source: ZooMed, Repti Therm Instruction Booklet)

(however, I do agree with you that the stupid diagram with the table with a hole in it is confusing >_<)

 

[acpart]

Probably they meant on the bottom of the tank "on one side" not in the middle. If you take the UTH off the side of the tank, you can easily tape it onto the bottom. There are people who have had the ambient temperature in the tank (not the floor temp) in the low 100's and swear that the geckos really like it. That high a temperature on the floor would likely cause burns (it's happened to one of my geckos where the floor temp got up to 106).

Aliza

 

[Moe]

thanks for the info everyone

 

[Moe]

If you take the UTH off the side of the tank, you can easily tape it onto the bottom.There are people who have had the ambient temperature in the tank (not the floor temp) in the low 100's and swear that the geckos really like it

Aliza

i will try this asap:main_thumbsup::main_yes:

 

[monkeytechahoo]

I've got a 55breeder tank with slate tile on the bottom. We use a UTH designed for a 30gal tank on one side of the tank, under the tank since leopard geckos require belly heat. The floor temps range from 92 to 100 depending on our room temps where the tank is kept. I have the mat on a rheostat to help keep the temp in check. I don't have any other source of heat for him. I did have to remove and reapply the mat, positioned it too far one way, and I used duct tape attached to tin foil that covered the mat and that attached the mat to the tank. So that may save you some money on using the mat you all ready have. My daughter's leo is in a 29gal with the same set up, but a 10gal mat in use. Griff and Pepper move around to what they feel they want.

 

[aburningflame]

agreed with the post above.

when i buy a heat mat the first thing i do is stick it to smooth tin foil. then i use aluminum foil tape (used in heating ducts and can withstand 150F) or electrical tape to attach it to the bottom of the tank - that way you can move it around.

i think the "side" of the tank thing was either zoomed telling you to attach to one side of the tank (underneath) OR some tree dwellers have setups with heat setup on the side of the tank.

anyway - ya the directions arent clear sometime - the bump on feet they came with are probably about 1inch taill - which gives it the 1inch game for excess heat to escape - this prevents damage to the heatmat and the furniture.

anwyays - good luck!