Habitat - Indoor :: building a new basking area

[mitchy04]

alright ... so good so far but i just need a little more help ... i bought the pvc pipes and i built a nice tower to fit perfectly inside the tank .. i used ceramic tiles because it can be trimmed easy as steve mentioned ... i found that the slate was to heavy and could not be easily trimmmed ... well the tile works perfectly but now i need to find a screen to put over my tank so i can place the uva and uvb lights on ... if your askin wut i used before i used a type of plastic that allows the uva light to go through doesnt filter out the light ... for the uvb it was placed in the tank but clamped to the plastic very securely so it would fall in ... ive had this set up for over a year and its given me no trouble ... i have a 75 gallon tank and i went to the pet store but they didnt have any covers my size .. ive been to several places and the biggest top screen they have is for like a 50 gallon .. im askin if any of you know where i can get the metal screen im tired of going from store to store and not getting any results ...

[marisa]

You could buy some 1/2 hardware cloth (a wire mesh with 1/2 inch holes bought in hardware stores, places like Home Depot, I buy mine at Tractor Supply Company, feed and grain stores also sell it). It somes in a roll, so you could cut it to the size you want. Some people cut in at the corners about 1.5 inches, then bend down the edges and attach them so that a border is formed that slips over the tank.

[Rusty]

Has anyone who has built a pvc basking platform or used a milk crate had any trouble with an oily substance leaching out into the water? On my PVC frame I used plexiglass instead of slate or stone.

[steve]

I've got a PVC frame and no problems with it. Could the plexiglas be the problem? I know when its curved and underwater, the plexiglas looks oily. Try ceramic tiles for the basking area.