Dart Den

Hey folks, so I just set up my new viv and I must say this is the first time I have had high temps in.... It needs cooled down!

-75 gallon, 3x t5 lights, etc.
-So, anyways. During the night, (I check before I go to bed and after I wake up), my temps are between 74-77F!
-During the day, my temps go up to 77-78F with the light on. So, I know the light is only adding ~1-2F.
-I mist 5 times a day for 12 seconds each.

That being said, I have ZERO vents on this tank. I was kind of against it considering my last tank with top vents needed mad misting to keep the humidity up, but since I am automated now I should be fine.

Question is... How many vents should I pop on the top glass? I have a 30mm glass bit and a 5/8" bit. I was thinking maybe 3 30mm holes on the front per piece of glass, so 6 total vents up front. Is that too much? Should I stick a fan on top of two of the vents and let it run for a minute or so before I mist at night?

All ideas welcome!

You can't 100% seal it up forever, especially with somewhat high temps. that's a recipe for frog death.

Post a pic here of your tank, especially the top/lid. We can recommend better with some peectures.

Ventilation, like 98.875 of anything in this hobby is so hit-or-miss and viv specific. Hard to say what will work for some, won't for others, based on geography and temps ect.

Is this sufficient?

hmmm...it sure does 'look' hot. lol....those moisture beads...I usually get them when lights are too hot. Def invest in a $49.00 laser light temp gun. I'll bump a thread on that for ya. Other than running a fan across the lighting, and keeping the lights 1-2 inches off the glass, your ballast and fixtures may just be too hot.

That's actually on of the big misconceptions in the Dart Frog hobby - that the tropical frogs will do well with 'fish tank" lighting. Reef lights and 80% of all the bright fish tank bulbs throw off way too much heat for the frogs.

Dart frogs do best with amient temps around typical 'households", i.e a decent range of warm months / seasons 70 to approaching 80F. While some Dart frogs, Oophaga pumilio, for example, can tolerate mid 80's or possible high 80s,...anything approaching 79F scares me.

lemme find that temp gun thread...

Hey Phil, I am running t5's on 3 other vivs and have no heat issues though and can get a +/- 5F fluctuation. When the lights are on I am only getting about 1-2 degree variation in tank. I let the tank sit without lights for a day and a two nights and it read 75F in the morning. My house thermostat is set to 70F.

If the tank is 75F without lights, then that is the max it is going to cool correct? So if the tank is cooled at 75F, then the max temp will be 77-78 during the day. So if the tank was say, 70 degrees at night, then I would only see a potential max temp of around 74F with the lights on, for theory sake.

I think if I can find a practical solution to keep the tank temperature down without the lights off, then the 1-2 degree addition from the lights will help the fluctuation from day to night more. Right now I am staying between 75-78F, so a 3 degree variation from night to day. If I can find a way to cool the tank more at night, hopefully down to 70F, then during the day I could get up to 74-75 hopefully and have a much more comfortable range of temps.

Let me know if I am making sense or sound like a rambling idiot.

lol...I hear ya. Sounds ok, but def 'temp gun' everything just to make sure. I have used the laser to hit the bulbs at the fixture / current end and have gotten 120F readings if I remember correctly.

In FL now....I am about ready to give Todd Goode a call and get me some LEDS !

Philsuma Wrote:lol...I hear ya. Sounds ok, but def 'temp gun' everything just to make sure. I have used the laser to hit the bulbs at the fixture / current end and have gotten 120F readings if I remember correctly.

In FL now....I am about ready to give Todd Goode a call and get me some LEDS !

You won't regret it! He has amazing lights! And your just in time for the new LED bars!

FWIW I cut a 4" strip out front across my glass top. I screened in the opening, then use the 4" cutting (70/30 split) as an adjustable vent. I only had it wide open when I had no fans running, otherwise I settled on a 1" gap up front (70 portion), and a bigger opening (30 portion) directly under my ReptiSun bulb. Anyhow, you might want to consider more vents than you think you need and keep the cuttings or create another cover that you can use to adjust the vents seasonally or as you modify lighting / misting / fans.

I would get the glass cut and put a vent across the whole front of the viv. That way the hotter air can rise and escape, will also help the frogs self regulate and allows a little more room for human error.

You could also turn 1 bulb off.

If you decide you want a vent, i can walk you through building one if needed. 8)

rcteem Wrote:

Philsuma Wrote:lol...I hear ya. Sounds ok, but def 'temp gun' everything just to make sure. I have used the laser to hit the bulbs at the fixture / current end and have gotten 120F readings if I remember correctly.

In FL now....I am about ready to give Todd Goode a call and get me some LEDS !

You won't regret it! He has amazing lights! And your just in time for the new LED bars!

I know, I am running 2 of his Jungledawns in pair with 2 T5's on one of my other tanks that needs the penetration. Great lights.

joneill809 Wrote:FWIW I cut a 4" strip out front across my glass top. I screened in the opening, then use the 4" cutting (70/30 split) as an adjustable vent. I only had it wide open when I had no fans running, otherwise I settled on a 1" gap up front (70 portion), and a bigger opening (30 portion) directly under my ReptiSun bulb. Anyhow, you might want to consider more vents than you think you need and keep the cuttings or create another cover that you can use to adjust the vents seasonally or as you modify lighting / misting / fans.

Is that tank top open? The only problem I see with that on my tank is I would need to make a glass frame for the vent to sit over so I could still get in the tank.

Ghostvivs Wrote:I would get the glass cut and put a vent across the whole front of the viv. That way the hotter air can rise and escape, will also help the frogs self regulate and allows a little more room for human error.

You could also turn 1 bulb off.

If you decide you want a vent, i can walk you through building one if needed. 8)

PM sent. I run one bulb for the first hour of the day, then I switch to two for the majority of the day, run all 3 for a 2 hour burst, then go back to one for the last hour of the day.

Have a full tank pic? A phone pic works.

Ghostvivs Wrote:Have a full tank pic? A phone pic works.

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7061&p=45787

Some of this is not making sense. I have a feeling you are getting bad temp readings and/or are not taking temps readings all over the viv.
If a viv is unlit for enough time it will go down to ambient temps. That time should not be a very long period of time.
Swings in temps , night and day, are not only a good thing, but necessary for some frogs' breeding.
I doubt your lights are and issue, but if I read right and you have 3-t5 bulbs for a 75, you definitely do not need that much lighting for the frogs , at all.
First step is to get an accurate temp gun and get good reading from different areas of the viv at different times of the night and day.
Every single frog we have in our hobby can handle 79 degrees for quite some time. While not optimal, it's far from scary, as long as that's top end. As long as you don't have phylos or highland frogs most all darts can take temps in the low 80's for quite a period of time.
A temp gun will give you a good idea of the micro-climates' temps and if there is really a constant temp across the viv, which I very much doubt. I'm sure you'll find around a 4 degree difference in different areas of the viv alone.

Temp gun. Check.

My only thought on why it isn't dropping so quickly is because the whole thing has no large air opening. If you have a few cracks here and there from vacuum, then only so much air gets out. So wouldn't it act as a sort of sauna in that respect? I have 3 different thermometers and hygrometers in different sections. One in the bottom back left corner. One in the upper right back corner and one on the front of the tank up top.

I'll do things one at a time to see what has the biggest impact on the temp. Start with the temp gun, work to fan vents, and if all else fails try some glass vents.

Tramontane Wrote:Is that tank top open? The only problem I see with that on my tank is I would need to make a glass frame for the vent to sit over so I could still get in the tank.

The mods described previously were for front opening vivs. I've done something similar with a 20L - I purchased a stock glass cover and cut a screen frame vent that runs the length of the rear of the viv - I moved the vent to the back of the viv so I could use the aquarium canopy in a standard way to access the tank. I've also added a 60mm circulation fan in the back to help venting. This setup is my froglet grow out viv. I do get condensation on the front glass in the mornings after the room cools off at night, but that clears up as the room warms up again. I originally had the vent along the front of the viv but access was tight under the light fixture. I have a new LED bar that should allow me to move the vent back up front ... a project for some future weekend

Some pics of the setup:
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Good luck! Keep us posted on what you come up with!

Well, this is how I feel this morning.



So anyways. I did some pokin around last night and did some different temp readings in each of the rooms in my house. Long story short, my room was 76F. Every other room in the house was 71F. Closed the bedroom vent last night. Woke up this morning to see that the min temp of the tank over night was 70.1F opposed to the previous 75.4F.

Well. I don't know what posting this online is doing for my ego but it isn't helping xD