Anyone who has laid a tank on side

[Cumminsman]

I am building a enclosure and I'm using 55 gallon tanks laying on their sides and was wondering if anyone else has done this and if you could post pics if your tanks. I'm interested in how the heating was done and the doors. These are the two tanks I have converted.


2.0 Royals

[Rickys_Reptiles]

On their side... for what animal?

[bcr229]

Not mine but the same idea - 55 on its side
http://www.redtailboas.com/f140/55-i...pinions-67266/

[Rickys_Reptiles]

DUH! I just realized whats going on here. It's a tank on it's side. I'm so slow.

Anyways, that's a lot of weight - the top piece of glass. Are you adding a center support?

[Cumminsman]

There won't be any weight on the top panel of glass. It should be good. I have had them on their sides in the garage for a while with stuff stacked on top of them and they have been ok. Fingers crossed. Lol.


2.0 Royals

[kitedemon]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...arium+solution

The 55 is unlikely to need a support it is designed to hold 550 lbs of water plus gravel, filters and what ever else hangs off the side of a tank.

I actually prefer mine to any of the bought enclosures I have (vision, ap, powerhouse, sly...) I have started to use a rope hinge rather than metal (strung like a shoe lace) That works super well. heating is simple I have used successfully a UTH installed under the bottom. Heat Cable under the bottom, and flex watt. More recently I have used UTH mounted on the top of an arboreal enclosure. this behaves so much like an RHP it makes me question if they are even needed. (there is a caveat to this UTH never gets as hot as an RHP so the set up has to be closer to correct to work, it isn't as flexible.)

[Cumminsman]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...arium+solution

The 55 is unlikely to need a support it is designed to hold 550 lbs of water plus gravel, filters and what ever else hangs off the side of a tank.

I actually prefer mine to any of the bought enclosures I have (vision, ap, powerhouse, sly...) I have started to use a rope hinge rather than metal (strung like a shoe lace) That works super well. heating is simple I have used successfully a UTH installed under the bottom. Heat Cable under the bottom, and flex watt. More recently I have used UTH mounted on the top of an arboreal enclosure. this behaves so much like an RHP it makes me question if they are even needed. (there is a caveat to this UTH never gets as hot as an RHP so the set up has to be closer to correct to work, it isn't as flexible.)

So you put UTH on the inside/top for ambient heat and it worked well? One of my tanks was not tempered glass so I was able to cut a hole in it for a heat light but the other was tempered so I'm trying to figure out how to heat it without spending a small fortune in RHP's



2.0 Royals

[kitedemon]

No actually on the out side top with a aluminum reflector also on the out side. in this order from outside to inside.

aluminum reflector
UTH
Glass

It doesn't heat do much for ambients, radiant heat never does add much (remember UTHs are also radiant heat sources too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_heating) It does provide a perfect hot spot for my green tree python however!

I hold in a cool room (66ºF on average) on a side turned tank with a correctly sized UTH set to 90ºF around 69-70ºF ambient air temps, about the same as a plastic enclosure a bit more than a tub. Personally I have a liner FL tube mounted inside the tank (with a translucent guard sealed in place with glue) This during the day adds between 6-14ºF (it slowly builds the longer it is on.) Bringing the air temp to 75ºF at the very coldest (coldest days in the house) and up to mid 80ºs on the warmest. I have to adjust the daylight hours a bit season to season. Over night I have a bank of LEDs inside as well, The electronics and diodes themselves add between 5-10ºF holding an acceptable night ambient temp. I never change the hot spot of 90ºF. In the dead of winter I often add a blanket or similar to the top of the tank to help keep a bit more heat in. In the summer when the house is warm often the FL is off altogether as the ambients are usually in an acceptable range with out them. It works for me and keeps the power bill down. (18 snakes now and 88$ CAD a month @ 15.75¢ per Kw/hr only $75 if you remove the service charge)

[Cumminsman]

Very helpful info! Do u have pics of your set ups?


2.0 Royals

[kitedemon]

No new ones, my picture site is full so I need a new account somewhere else and just have not gotten around to it yet.