Introduction: Turtle Tank Water Heater Enclosure

As you can probably imagine, adult aquatic turtles can be quite destructive. We were given a glass water heater that needed to be turtle-proof. Thank you PVC.

I basically cut a piece of pvc to size, drill it full of holes, make a slot for the electrical cord and slap on some end caps. Okay, we're done.

Items Needed:

Tools Needed:

  • Saw chop or hand
  • Drill
  • Drill Bits of various sizes
  • Clamps to hold the pipe while drilling
  • Tape Measure

Skill Level Needed:'

  • Medium

Turtle Level:

  • Medium

Step 1:

The heater I am using is an Aqueon Submersible Aquarium Heater. This particular heater is 13 inches long, so i want to cut the pvc to fit just inside the width of my tank.15 inches seemed about right.

  • Cut the 2" PVC to 15" with a saw.
  • Clamp the tube to a 1/2" wood board
  • With various sized drill bits, drill random placed holes around your PVC tube.
  • Cut a slot for the heater cord to slide down. this slot will be a bit longer than the end cap.
  • Wipe and remove all pcv scraps and filings from your tube.

Time to test your fit. Slide the Glass Heater into the PVC tube and insert the End Caps. This should be a decent fit for this particular heater.

  • Place your newly acquired suction cups onto your heater housing.
  • Put the whole heating unit under the water in your tank and affix the suction cups to the glass.
  • Clamp (one of those you used earlier) the heater electrical cord to the top of the tank.
  • Plug the electrical cord into an approved outlet.

This is a pretty easy project and is really to just let you know, when you find this Instructalbe, that someone else had created it.


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