Tank Screen Top Foil Treatment Tutorial

First off, many many thanks to Dr Del for answering questions. :) RL has me running in circles right now, so I'm not on as often as I'd like to be.

Second, as far as ambient temps go this treatment is meant to stabilize the temps. Although it can help to raise ambient a bit since the heat stays inside the tank instead of dissipating out, it probably won't take it up more than a few degrees from the outside room temp. The best way to give a little boost to ambient temps is with a low watt lamp.

As for larger heat bulbs, I don't recommend them for snakes anyway. The best heat for these guys comes from UTH or RHP. But, if you must use these bulbs, they should always be on a thermostat to make sure they don't get TOO hot. They should also never be closer to the top of the screen than 8 inches. :)

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Originally Posted by hig

How far would this treatment go towards raising the ambient temps in the enclosure (tub or tank)? Any rough ideas?

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My setup

55gallon aquarium. 4Lx2Hx1D. I have that decortive landscape wallpaper around the aqarium for the bottom 16 inches.

I was using 2 UTH and got the ground temps where they needed to be, ambient air temp was around 68.

I added vinyl to the lid and a 100watt CHE and raised ambient temps to 75

I added aluminum foil on the upper sides and around the upper back (about 8 inches) and I added an old yogo mat on top of that for extra insulation

On the lid I have vinyl all the way across except for a hole for the CHE and then I added aluminum foil to the cool side of the lid with the yogo mat tapped down on top of it.

My ambient temps avg:
Cool side-77
Middle- 80
Warn side- 82

I also made a fogger and have it set with a timer to come on as often as I can ( every 105 minutes) and I have it come on for three minutes each time. All this work helped my temps, but the warmer I was able to get the aquarium the harder it became to keep the humidity up.

My humidity will go up to 75% after three minutes of fogging and in 30 minutes its back down to 30%.

So to answer your question this does great for temp, but if you have a CHE, at least for me, it has not helped that much.

I control my temps and humidity with:
5- Digital thermostats, 3 of them control the temps (cool UTH, warm UTH, CHE)
1- Hygrometer in the middle of the aquarium about 6" off the ground
1- plug in timer to turn the fogger on and off

i used the foil bubble wrap exceeded my hopes

Would this be ok to do with a Leo? and how about if you were to cut a hole that a lil biggewr then the size of the lamp then would you be able to put the lamp right one the screen without it being a fire hazard?

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Originally Posted by Herp4life11

Would this be ok to do with a Leo? and how about if you were to cut a hole that a lil biggewr then the size of the lamp then would you be able to put the lamp right one the screen without it being a fire hazard?

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I used this method on my Leo cages as well and it worked fine. :) And yes, I cut the hole a bit larger than the lamp since Leos bask.
However, I would not ever recommend putting the lamp right on the screen. Not only can it heat up the screen a lot, and be a potential fire hazard with the non-metal screens, but if you need the lamp that close to get the heat you need...you need a higher watt bulb. :D

Can I also use glass to cover part of the screen top?

This is awesome thanks so much for posting and sticky-ing this post i used your technique on my 50 gal and it completely evened out my temp and humidity. just one thing though, i put a piece of cardboard down were i was cutting out the vents before i set everything down so i wouldnt cut the screen :)

This was some great information i am having a little problem however i followed the directions and however did not exactly make a 5 to 6 in hole for the humidity because i only have a 10 gallon tank but my problem is i can not get the humidity past 43 to 50. it is staying mainy around 45 any idea on how to get it up from there im using reptile carpet until i can hold my male pastel since he is new and wont be able to switch it out to aspen till approx sunday. could this be part of the reason the humidity is down because it is absorbing it into the reptile carpet? any thoughts or suggestions would be great im switching to aspen as of sunday btw if that is a possible fix for my problem.

thanks a lot i just finish doing it just did a little things diffrent but i hope this helps with humidity and heat thanks soo much mate

Thanks for this!! It really helped raise the humidity in my tank :)