HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello,
I have a tank that is 30(L)x12(W)x18(H) and the current heater I have is 8.5x18.5in and I use a thermostat controller. It is located on the back of my tank centered and 4 inches above the substrate. The controller is set to 80. On my temperature and humidity monitor the temp shows 74-80. Does anyone recommend a good brand heater?

The heater you have right now is probably a ZooMed stick-on or something similar. The brand most of us use is Ultratherm. If you get one, you will want one that covers most of the back of your tank. (I would suggest an 11x23 like this: https://www.reptilebasics.com/ultrather ... uth-11-x23 .)

However, it seems like your current problem could be a misunderstanding of how your thermostat works rather than a bad heater, so you may not need to purchase a new heat mat right now.

[This is applicable for the thermostat I have: https://www.amazon.com/Century-Thermost ... 01&sr=8-5# . Yours may, of course, be different.]
When installed correctly, the thermostat's probe will be in your tank, near but not touching the heater. The probe will sense a temp and send power to the heat mat, which will begin to heat up the tank. When the thermostat senses the temp that you programmed it to (80), it stops sending power to the heat mat. The tank then begins to cool down, but when the probe senses a temp of 2 degrees below its programmed temp (78), it sends power to the heat mat again. So the temp at the back of the tank is constantly fluctuating between 80 and 78 degrees. Because the heat mat is never on for very long, the temp at the front/middle of the tank may not increase by very much. I have my thermostat set to 83 right now, and the overall temp in the tank stays right at 80.

Thank you for the reply!!

Bean farm is my go to for heaters


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Thank you!