Tank Screen Top Foil Treatment Tutorial

[Argentra]

Ok, in response to requests I am posting my Screen Foil Treatment step-by-step picture tutorial here in the caging forum. I hope it proves useful.

SCREEN TOP TREATMENT PROCESS

Step 1 - Supplies. Screen top, aluminum foil, Duct Tape, box cutter or Xacto knife, and clear vinyl (optional. Wouldn't show up in pictures)


Step 2 - Tear 3 layers of foil, sized basically to your screen. (had to use two sets of three layers for this square top) Lay them shiny side down.


Step 3 - Tape down the edges with Duct tape.


Step 4 - Continue with strips of tape to cover the top completely.


Step 5 - Cut the ventilation opening on one end of the top with the box cutter or Xacto knife. Be VERY careful not to cut into the screen! The opening should cover about 1/4 of the top - typically 5-6" square.


Step 6 - Tape the edges of the opening to secure the foil. (Indentations mark the edges of the hole)


Step 7 - (Optional) Cut the window opening near the center of the top. This lets light in without sacrificing humidity.


Step 8 - Use the cutout piece of foil/tape from the window as a template to cut vinyl, adding 1/2-1" extra to edges.
(NOT SHOWN - I pre-cut my windows, and vinyl doesn't show up in pictures.)

Step 9 - Lay the vinyl UNDER the foil inside the opening (against the screen) relatively centered.
(NOT SHOWN - camera wouldn't pick up the plastic)

Step 10 - Tape the edges of the window, similar to taping the ventilation opening edges.


The Finished product! This screen top was to an 18x18 ExoTerra tank.


To show what a more usual screen top looks like treated, here is my 20gal Long locking top:


And my 10g locking top for contrast. The window of this one was larger to let in more light in a dark room:



This is the most effective screen top treatment for regulating humidity in glass tanks! Second would be plexiglass, but that can be pricey.

[littleindiangirl]

Wonderful post Adriana! Sticky worthy for sure!

[dr del]

Agreed and stuck.


dr del

[puddintain]

I am so going to do this

[Argentra]

Thank you... that means a lot to me. It's my ambition in life to help people with the care of exotic pets, especially reptiles.

I hope this tutorial will help many owners, new and old, to be that much closer to a stable and well-working tank enclosure.

[unrezt]

Probably a dumb question but is duct tape safe to use with a 50watt infrared heat lamp?

[hig]

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

[Argentra]

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.

[kyleax1]

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

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

[PSBP]

i used the foil bubble wrap exceeded my hopes