Covering Tank Sides

I'm going to get the new little guys tank sides covered hopefully today sometime. What are good materials to use to keep heat from being lost by the glass? Ive read some suggestions around here, but I was wondering whats worked best for you guys?

I used this garden liner plastic stuff backed with layers of aluminum foil for a few months, it worked okay but it was extremely ugly. Then I got some black foam core board from walmart for $4 per 36"x24" sheet, it works great.

The absolute best material is the blue house foam board insulation found at Lowes and Home Depot. VERY cheap, nice and thick, does the job better than any other insulation.
Other good materials include cork board, thinner project foam board, Refectix, and felt. It all depends on how cool your room gets and how much heat you need to keep in the tank. For example, if you keep your room at 80 all year, you'd only need a thin insulating material because the air outside is close to what it should be inside.
But, if your temps drop or stay cooler then you need thicker material. I live in Denver CO, so I use the house foam on my tanks and it works perfectly. :)

Hope that helped and didn't confuse. :D

Thanks guys! I keep the place at 80 during the summer, but we havent had a winter here yet...so I may go with this house foam board stuff just in case....How do you stick it to the tank? Hot glue or tape? And does it go on the inside or the outside?

Also, could you find me a picture or a link from Lowes with this blue house foam board? Just so I know what it looks like. I can't find it on the website but I dont know exactly what im looking for.

Here's a picture of what I think they are talking about.

http://www.homeconstructionimproveme...insulation.jpg

Here's some further information on it.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4519628_blue...tion-size.html

I would put it on the outside of the tank and likely just tape it there so it could be removed if needed. Remember tape and snakes don't mix so make sure tape is never used unless it's outside the enclosure where the snake can never get at it.

Yeah, I couldnt imagine seeing tape stuck to one of my babies. I shudder to imagine how many scales it would rip off coming off. I used hot glue inside the tank and thats only for the probe of the therm.

Thank you guys!

Yes, that is the board. :) And yes, you tape it to the outside of the tank back and sides. Usually over a background of some sort.

I place my background (scrapbooking paper usually), then place the board over that, using foil tape to attach it to the tank.
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...insulation.jpg

Thanks! I think I'm going to try the foam-core board first because I was thinking that I didnt want the blue board to insulate too much...I could always upgrade if I needed too. And thanks for the scrapbooking paper idea too ^-^

:D NP. This is what it looks like with that paper as the background:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...BP10gtank1.jpg

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Originally Posted by MsPrada

Thanks! I think I'm going to try the foam-core board first because I was thinking that I didnt want the blue board to insulate too much...I could always upgrade if I needed too. And thanks for the scrapbooking paper idea too ^-^

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That blue stuff is called Polystyrene insulation. I use it to cover my UTH's so heat doesn't escape from the bottom...


Rob

How do you cover them? And how much heat do you think leaks out of them?

Be very careful about covering the bottom with a UTH. If you cover it completely, the lack of ventilation will often cause the UTH to overheat and burn things, including the thing covering it.

To keep heat on the bottom in cold rooms, I would recommend taking a peice of the foam a little bigger than the tank length and width, covering one side with foil, and setting the tank on top of it. You still get the ventilation with the little feet, but the heat gets reflected back up. :)

I did this not too long ago in winter with one of my tanks and it worked like a charm. :) Just remember never to completely cover a UTH.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MsPrada

How do you cover them? And how much heat do you think leaks out of them?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Argentra

Be very careful about covering the bottom with a UTH. If you cover it completely, the lack of ventilation will often cause the UTH to overheat and burn things, including the thing covering it.

To keep heat on the bottom in cold rooms, I would recommend taking a peice of the foam a little bigger than the tank length and width, covering one side with foil, and setting the tank on top of it. You still get the ventilation with the little feet, but the heat gets reflected back up. :)

I did this not too long ago in winter with one of my tanks and it worked like a charm. :) Just remember never to completely cover a UTH.

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Here is a pic of when I was setting up my 50 gal tank. Even the large UTH seemed small. What I did was first place the t-stat probe into position and tape the wire to hold it in place. Then I positoned the UTH over that and taped it down, which leaves a small bulge in the UTH. Next I cut the polystyrene to about the same width as the tank and about half the length. Next, I laid 2 pencils on the UTH, laid the polystyrene over that and taped it down, then remove the pencils. This will leave approximately 3/16" gap between the insulation and UTH and accounts for the t-stat bulge. This works for me because the tanks are on metal stands that are open underneath. If your enclosue is sitting on a table or something you will need to raise the tank up. I use these little gripper pads from Wal-mart. They are in the hardware section with all those felt pads and slider pads for furniture. Alot of it will depend on your particular set-up...

Rob


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/pict0051.jpg

I have it sitting on a table with the little footies that came with the med (10-20) zoomed. I keep the pad at 92-93. What would using the insulation do? Does it keep more heat inside the tank (as in does it help with ambient air temps) or what? I'm just a bit confused on the benefit, mostly because Ive never heard of anyone doing this. Thanks!

I hope you're measuring those temperatures inside the tank on the glass. :) Just because the mat itself is one temperature, doesn't mean the inside is the same.

Glass does NOT hold heat well, instead it usually allows it to pass through. Therefore, insulation of some sort is needed to keep the temps stable inside (important for snakes). It not only helps with ambient air temps but warm and cool side as well. For optimal heat stability, and humidity, you should also have the screen top covered with either plexiglass or the foil treatment.

I have the probe inside the tank under the substrate. And I have the foil treatment done. The temps have always been good but I wanted to go ahead and insulate the sides and stuff so I can be prepared for the winter.

How much of a difference did you see in temps when you insulated. Like how much extra heat do you think this will actually keep inside? I've done it already (went to Wal-Mart asap) so I'm going to monitor and see, but I was just curious how much of a difference it can make :D

When I first started out, I had my baby in a 20g long tank with only the background and one UTH. I learned as I went and got the thermostats and second UTH and the temps improved...but once I added the insulation (cork first, and then the foam board) I noticed that I didn't need the lamps for ambient heat, and my thermostats weren't coming on nearly as often. That's mostly what you notice - stabilization of the temps. :)

You don't notice it much in warm weather, but in the winter it really makes the difference!

Awesome. Thanks

Whatever you use make sure its dark. They don't like the exposure. I use the black foam board and one side is exposed the others are black kinda like a cave.

Both sides of the foam board I used are black.

It doesn't matter what color the foam is if you have a background. :) The whole point is to cover the back and sides so they feel secure and to have some form of insulation to retain heat. :)

But black is good. Probably looks better than the bright blue.