New Viv - Need help setting up

[jagodzinski]

Good morning! I just got back from Petsmart where I got a 40 gallon breeder tank made by Aqueon for 40 dollars! 1 dollar / 1 gallon sale. I am very happy

So I have a couple questions....

1. How should I clean out this tank? It is really too big to fit under the sink. I was thinking spray with water / soap mixture and the wipe down and rinse out by spraying down some more times.

2. The Lid. So currently I have a 29 gallon aquarium and I have this screen lid that I clip on with these C-shaped clips from the reptile aisle of the petstore. Will I still be able to do this with the bigger size? I am buying a larger screen today from PetCo but I am not sure if the clips will still work because the outerblack rim around the top I clip to goes down much farther on this tank.

3. Can I use the same size heat mat? And just put it under her primary warm side hide. Or should I get a bigger heat mat so that 1/3 of the new bigger size is heated?

Thank You!

 

[smigon]

1. How should I clean out this tank? It is really too big to fit under the sink. I was thinking spray with water / soap mixture and the wipe down and rinse out by spraying down some more times.

-I would take it outside and hose it down with soap and water, just rinse really well.

2. The Lid. So currently I have a 29 gallon aquarium and I have this screen lid that I clip on with these C-shaped clips from the reptile aisle of the petstore. Will I still be able to do this with the bigger size? I am buying a larger screen today from PetCo but I am not sure if the clips will still work because the outerblack rim around the top I clip to goes down much farther on this tank.

-The lid should really fit absolutely perfectly, corns are great escape artists. Hopefully the clamps will work but I don't know exactly what the setup looks like.

3.Can I use the same size heat mat? And just put it under her primary warm side hide. Or should I get a bigger heat mat so that 1/3 of the new bigger size is heated?

-See what the temps are with the current UTH, if they can't raise it up to the proper temps I would get a larger one, make sure the UTH is approximately 1/3 the size of the tank.

A good tip for UTHs is to take a sheet of aluminum foil just slightly larger than the UTH and peel the sticky thing off the UTH. Put the UTH on the foil and fold the sides over to make it a little packet. Tape the packet under one end of the viv with any kind of tape. When you need to move the UTH or want to take it off to clean it only the foil will be damaged, not the pad or the wires. The foil will not change the way the UTH emits heat in any way.

Good luck!

 

[jagodzinski]

Thanks for the tips! I am all setup. I ended up just cleaning the new tank inside with clorhexidine spraying it down with water and dumping it out. I rinsed it about 10 times to make sure I got all the cleaning residue out.

I did end up buying new clips that fit very well. I also did end up using the same heating mat, I had to set the thermostat to just a little hotter because the bottom glass is thicker but so far so good with all of the temps.

I think Jag is pretty pleased with the new setup. I threw a bunch of extra plants in there and last night I found my five foot long snake trying to balance on top of them