Does your terrarium read 70F with the lights on as well?

How are you setting up the tank, are the plants planted in the substrate or are they in pots? Those heating pads are not made for use with tanks that are holding water. I don't see where there would be a problem unless you poured cool water into the terrarium and caused the glass to crack over the heating pad.

Is there a specific reason you want to raise the temperature? Are you growing plants that require warm temperatures (80F) during the day?

Thanks for replying. My light is a flourescent light and doesn't put out much heat at all. It is about 72-73 degrees under the light, and about 69-70 on the cool side of the tank. I have tropical carnivorous plants, and I am going to order a dart frog after Christmas to put in there, and the temp needs to stay about 75 degrees, I think. Although the plants really are doing good like it is. My sundews have dew on them, the butterworts look greasy, and all are showing new growth. The plants are planted directly in the substrate. There is no standing water in the tank. I don't know, the pad may raise it too high. It really is just a few degrees cooler than it needs to be.

The pads heat to twenty degrees above room temperature. You can buy a rheostat made to control heating devices for use in reptile and amphibian tanks and fine tune the temperature that way.

The temperature will depend on the species but the temperature you have now is fine for the daytime. You could always add another light to raise the temperature. One of those low wattage aquarium bulbs would do well and there are also bulbs made for use at night. At night you will have to make sure the temperatures stay above 65F and possibly higher for some others. I have read that temperatures over 80-85F can be deadly to many dart frog species.

When you know what species of frog you are getting do a Google search for specific information concerning its preferred temperature and any other species specific information you can find.

If you'd like, you can keep your terrarium cool and go with mantella frogs instead. Some really gorgeous ones have been imported recently. I've kept M. milotympanum and laevigata myself, and they really are easy, enjoyable frogs. Much easier to care for than many darts.

When you say easier to care for, how so? Easier is always better. I can't find anyone selling those frogs. I see a lot on dart frogs, but not very much on mantellas, and when I do, they seem to be lumped in with the dart frogs.

You have to consider the temperature that the tank will achieve in the summer as well. Do you use air conditioning during the summer months? I know that I often have to shut off supplemental heat bulbs during especially hot weather in some of my snake cages. Trying to keep an enclosure cool is much harder than warming one up a bit.

I have been seeing a fair number of Mantella species available as well. I think the most common is the Mantella madagascariensis or a look-alike species.

We are building a closed tropical terrarium, no animals, just plants and was wondering would it be necessary to install an under the tank heater. Summer wouldn't be too bad here but the winter nights can be a little cool in the house, ~68 degrees. Alternatively, I was thinking to use a light bulb at night to keep it warm. This is a 55 gal. rectangular tank. Maybe I am just blowing this thing out of proportion, but we would just like to put this thing to rest, one way or the other. We just want it to be a successful terrarium.

You mentioned "only" plants in your 55 gal. tank. What type of plants are you going to keep? Will you be using artificial light during the day, or sunlight? Will your set-up require humidity? And what do you mean when you say "a closed tropical terrarium"?

I have a 46 gal. for growing Tillandsia and use artificial lighting (approx. 10-11 hours a day). My house temperatures hoover around 66-70F (night-day) in the winter time, and between 68-82F (night-day) in the summer time ~ using central heat/ac.

My set-up contains no soil or water (except for a small glass of water on the back left side of the tank - and I really don't know if this helps "a little bit" with adding a touch more humidity, but it can't hurt)... temperatures inside the tank range from 66-75F during night hours with lights out, and about 78-90F during the day with lights on. My lighting fixtures produce heat, so I have some small fans (one inside of the tank for air circulation, one outside of the tank to pull heat away from the lights). Tank has open gaps on the top (not completely sealed).

Relative humidity inside the set-up can drop to 10% with lights on during the day, and bounces up to 40-55% at night. This set-up has worked successfully for my plants over the years (keep in mind these plants are Tillandsia). Bottom line: I think your question depends on several unknown variables, but most tropical plants I have worked with for terrariums seem okay with night time temps. of 64-68F and up to the 84F mark during the day.

Included a couple photos of the set-up I mentioned from above. Hopefully, it will give you an idea as to the open gaps in the top, the circulation fan inside the tank, and the fan mounted slightly above my lights to pull heat away from the tank. Good luck with your project.

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This post was edited by o2tiller on Fri, May 16, 14 at 14:17

Some VERY nice tillies you have there!

Thanks, Paul ~ appreciate your comment.