Vertical heating options.
Hello everyone,
I’m planning a vertical paludarium build for vampire crabs and would appreciate feedback.
After reading and watching so many vampire crab videos, I’d really love to build one for my own.
The inspiration comes from SerpaDesign’s IKEA paludarium and IndoorEcosystems’ Huge vertical No Foam paludarium. My goal is to create a hybrid of both: a lower water section for aquatic life like Serpa’s build, with a tall vertical background inspired by IndoorEcosystems.
The main difference is that my back wall will be made mostly from spray foam.
The two areas I’m looking for help with are:
1. Humidity-safe lighting
Any light suggestions that can hold up inside a high-humidity enclosure, around 80% humidity? I considered using a spare Chihiros Slim WRGB II, but I’m concerned about long-term moisture exposure, even with two small vent cutouts at the top. Should I use the Chihiros light, or does anyone have a better suggestion?
2. Ambient heating
The water section will have a heater, but I’m still trying to figure out the safest way to maintain warm ambient air temperatures throughout the vertical space for the crabs.
Since the wall is made of expanding foam, I’m not sure if use a heat mat on the back, that the heat from behind the enclosure will permeate through the foam well enough.
Any advice or product suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Pics of both builds included for reference.