Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, a pet shop in the town i live in just recently closed. The owner was selling all his old tanks for very very cheap so i had to buy them lol. So i bought three tanks from him. the largest is 30x10x20 the second largest is 24x12x12 the last is 20x10x13 (lxwxh inches) So if i put them all on their sides bam i have three new tall tanks for phelsuma. My only problem is that if i put them on their sides the screen would be in front. What kind of lighting could i use on top of these tanks which would be glass to provide proper heat, uv, and lighting? I really do not want to mutilate these tank and put screen on the top, i'd love to keep them as is I know that UV does not penetrate glass well and a regular heat lamp would make it very very hit through the glass but i know this has been done ive seen pictures on here im sure. Any help and suggestions would be awsome!! Thanks guys!!!!

Heating can likely be done by a large heat pad adhered to the back wall of the up-ended tank (place pad outside glass). If the room is cold, you can tape a piece of Reflectix on the back wall over the heat pad (leave about a 1/8 inch air gap between heater and Reflectix, easy to do with double-stick foam tape.)

For UV light, I suppose you could silicon a plastic round wiring box to the inside tank ceiling, then screw in a lamp socket and put in a UV bulb. Wires would have to go out the tank somehow.

In fact, as long as you are running wires out the tank, you could silicon an additional wiring box into the tank and use a heat lamp and forget the heat pad idea.

Drills for glass are available. I have seen an aquarium with a hole drilled in it. I haven't tried it myself on aquarium glass for fear of cracking it. I think glass shops can do it for you. That would be the best solution for running wires out the tank.

Good luck.
-----
Mark