New 55 set up

[Noluk]

I'm building a 55 vivarium to house succulents, cacti, blue death feigning beetles and a young albino leo. The substrate will consist of lava rock and gravel on the bottom for drainage, a layer of sand and topped off with pea gravel. I have lots ot drift wood and rocks for hides. Lighting is T-5 plant, a 10k sun light an actinic from my reef keeping days. I run the lights in cycle, so that the temp runs from 75 at night to 88 during peak hours. Now, after all that, I'd like to know if anyone keeps their heat pads inside the tank. After 45 years of fish keeping I know what a major pita it is to tear down a tank to get at a defective piece of equipment.

 

[LoveReps]

I have done this with waterproof pads in one of my semi bio and normal setups. I always have loose substrate in my enclosures, bio or nonbio so I cover the pad with a thin layer of substrate. As long as it's waterproof and is hooked up to a temp controller you shouldn't have any issues. Just find one thats is high quality and long lasting. It might cost a bit more but to me that's better than repeatedly breaking down my tank to replace the cheap pad. Before you know it, you will be spending more on cheap quality pads than the premium quality pads imo.

 

[acpart]

Think about using ZooMed heat cable which is a rubberized heat cable that you can tape (with Nashua tape) and re-tape easily.

Aliza