Screen for homemade lid

[fizox]

Just saved myself a couple of bucks by building my own screen lid for my 55 gal tank. My question is I used a standard metal mesh screen for the lid like one you would find on a sliding screen door, will placing a 75 watt basking lamp and a 75 watt infrared night lamp on the screen promote a fire hazard??? Store bought screen lids seem to have an extra coat of something on the screen itself...please give me your thoughs, thanks.

 

[Sabbas]

the 75 watt basking lamp could possibly melt the screen and cause it to weaken. I doubt it would actually ever catch fire unless it had some flamable substance on it as well but it might weaken the mesh to the point that a snake could poke on it and break through (or the lamp could fall into the cage if you have it sitting directly on it. I hope that answer's your question. If I were you, I would just go ahead with it like you had planned and leave both lamps on for a number of hours and then test the material to see if it had weakened or was too hot and such. IMHO, if it doesn't catch fire within 8-10 hours or show any signs of weakening after 24 hours then I would say you were in the clear as far as that screen is concerned.

 

[V.F.T.]

if you can raise the lights off of the screen (it doesnt need to be alot) you shouldnt have any issues.
if you have any of the screen left over i would recamend testing it with the lights you plan on using.
let us know how it works out
:cheers:

 

[fizox]

I have used both lamps on the screen and the only thing I can really see is that it makes the mesh hot but as soon as i lift the lamp it cools right away. It hasnt shown any signs of weakening yet (after all day today and for a few hours last night). Also i have placed a store bought 10 gal mesh top on my homemade one for the lamps to sit directly on so they dont touch the homemade mesh anymore...hopefully this will work for me, thanks guys.