Hello Guys!
About ten months ago I posted a long review video of the then brand new Habisphere terrarium by Exo Terra. As the months have passed my opinions have changed and I thought before I moved home it was the perfect time to update you on the tank!
The original video covers the tank in more detail, including its size, specifications and details. This post is going to be more of my personal experiences with this terrarium, how I have it set up, any visible wear and tear or problems I have had.
I have found plants really flourish under the LED lighting. My other live planted tank which has both UV and visibile lighting compact tubes over it doesn't look as healthy as this.
The only gripe I have with the lighting on the Habisphere is that you have to cycle between daylight and nighttime lighting modes manually. Meaning you can't set it up on a timer. It is a small fault but a big one for nocturnal animal keepers who dont want to have to manually switch on the tank viewing lights every night.
On that subject if you are keeping animals such as Scorpions or Tarantulas in this tank be aware they will HATE the bright white light. In fact it would kill more light sensitive species such as the Emperor Scorpion. The purple LED should be fine for brief nighttime viewing but there is no way to turn on the night viewing mode without giving your animals a blast of pure, bright white light. I would have much prefered two seperate switches for the lighting options.
I have had no issues with leaking or scratching with the glass. Ten months after setting up the tank there are minimum signs of wear and tear.
The biggest problem I had with the habispher in the video is there is no inlet for cables. This is a BIG oversight for reptile keeping when every setup requires thermostat probes, digital thermometers and hydrometers inside the setup. The only way I could get around this is by drilling a hole through the removable background piece, feeding the probes through and then sealing around the edges with aquarium safe sealant to prevent things like fruitflies and springtails from escaping.
On the subject of escaping this tank is far superior to the original Exo Terra terrariums for maintaining high humidity. I keep my setup at around 93% humidity. To stop the humidity from escaping the tank I simply covered around 90% of the venting on the top of the tank with black duct tape. I have had no problems with this rusting the vent and it doesnt look noticible.
I keep my setup heated to the low 70s via a Habistat High Power Heat Mat fixed to the side of the tank and controlled with a dimming thermostat. I REAlLLY reccomend these heat mats for heating tanks you can't use a heat lamp on. Just make sure you use them with a good quality thermostat and digital thermometer to prevent over heating. Make sure you do your research on them and think about their placement carefully as they do get much hotter than a standard mat. However as my setup is in a cold climate it is the only thing that heats it to the correct temperature.
The only other problem I have with this tank is becase the glass is curved it collects condencation like you can't blieve. This really obstructs your view in to the tank. I dont mind this personally as it makes the tank inhabitants feel more secure but some people might have major issues with this. I have found a magnetic aquarium cleaner is an amazing hack for this though as you can wipe down the glass without sticking your hand in the tank! Great for scorpion keepers!
I do really like this tank. I think of it as a flawed masterpiece. I wish it was ten cm bigger so it gave more options of what you could keep. I wish they thought about the design from a practical standpoint more. I wish they didn't advertise it with two adult geckos and 4 adult tinctorius in it. But it is still a really good tank. I hope they bring out a bigger model in the future and they incorperate cable acess like they did with the original terrarium.
I also hope they bring out replacement light fixtures in case the preinstalled one breaks. Replanting an entire live planted vivarium becase some bulbs blew is not something ANYONE wants to do.
I hope this post was helpful. I do intend to be filming an update video on my YouTube so subscribe so you dont miss it.
R.W
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