Heat

[FairyDefender]

Setting up the new tat....... here's what we have so far. I've had the heat running for 2-3 day now & I'm only getting up to about 74°f. I like to keep the house cold so I'm sure winter will be worse. I have 2 of these heaters on the back with foam behind them. So all the area above the sand is covered already. I thought about some heat tape, or cord around the bottom but IDK. Is there anything else I can do? Maybe another heater on one of the sides? It's a big tank 36x36x16 with about 350 lbs of sand. The sand feels pretty cold. I don't want lights, the top is plexiglass & it's dry enough here already.

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[aussieJJDude]

Insulating the bottom and other (empty) side could be two good options. What temperature is the house kept at?

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[FairyDefender]

65-70 ish for the house. I think insulated the bottom isn't possible now unless I took all the sand back out.......ugh that sounds like a terrible time, lol

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[gunstreet.girl]

I also keep my house cold in fall/winter, so I feel you. I have ultratherms covering the entire back of my tank and topper. In the fall/winter, I insulate one whole side of my tank that doesn’t have a UTH with reflective foil insulation (reflectix I think? It’s the pliable stuff with the bubble-wrap-style core). That added insulation on one side of the tank boosts the temp by about 10 degrees.

Question - how thick is the backing/climbing wall you have in front of the UTHs? I wonder if they’re insulating against the heat. Maybe try moving one of your 2 UTHs to the side of the tank that isn’t covered with cocomat and see if that makes a difference?

[Xenocrab]

I put uths on the side as well during the winter

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[aussieJJDude]

Sorry. My bad. Meant the bottom (front) panel

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[FairyDefender]

The back wall is egg crate with coconut fiber over but it's pretty thin. Probably about 1/2". What if I put a heater on the side with it below the sand line? I'm worried the sand will be way to cold. The tank is big enough they should be able to dig away from the heat if it was warmer than they liked.

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[aussieJJDude]

The only issue I see is that sand is a fantastic insulator. Not only will it not do much (maybe only a couple of inches around where the heater is) but it will dry out the sand and make it very difficult to control the temperature without a thermostat...

While members have and do hear their substrate, I would encourage not to heat more than a couple of inches below the surface since it can get a little too warm down there.

Putting insulation around where the substrate is could help retain some heat on the glass, but not make it overly hot?

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[FairyDefender]

Hmmmm. Didn't know that about the sand. I do have a temp. controller that the heaters plug into but that's not much help unless it gets to hot & I don't see that being an issue. I may be able to slide some bubble wrap insulation under & I will try some insulation on the sides. Nobody is moving in until I get this right but I REALLY want them to see their new home! LOL I still have some other things to add in the meantime.

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[FairyDefender]

I also keep my house cold in fall/winter, so I feel you. I have ultratherms covering the entire back of my tank and topper. In the fall/winter, I insulate one whole side of my tank that doesn’t have a UTH with reflective foil insulation (reflectix I think? It’s the pliable stuff with the bubble-wrap-style core). That added insulation on one side of the tank boosts the temp by about 10 degrees.

Question - how thick is the backing/climbing wall you have in front of the UTHs? I wonder if they’re insulating against the heat. Maybe try moving one of your 2 UTHs to the side of the tank that isn’t covered with cocomat and see if that makes a difference?

Thanks for the insulation idea! I ordered some & put it on today. The temp went up from 74 to 82! So awesome! What a relief. Now I'm only worried about how cold the sand is. Is about 10"-12" deep. Seems like it will be really cold in the middle.

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[Hermiesguardian]

Thanks for the insulation idea! I ordered some & put it on today. The temp went up from 74 to 82! So awesome! What a relief. Now I'm only worried about how cold the sand is. Is about 10"-12" deep. Seems like it will be really cold in the middle.

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If you heat the sand it can be too warm for them and they won't have a place to cool off. Also it can dry the sand out.

[FairyDefender]

If you heat the sand it can be too warm for them and they won't have a place to cool off. Also it can dry the sand out.

I'm not going to heat it just makes me wonder how they will like it if it's cold.

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[gunstreet.girl]

Thanks for the insulation idea! I ordered some & put it on today. The temp went up from 74 to 82! So awesome! What a relief. Now I'm only worried about how cold the sand is. Is about 10"-12" deep. Seems like it will be really cold in the middle.

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You’re welcome! Happy it worked out.

I wouldn’t worry about the temp of the sand.

[wodesorel]

I heat the sand in my tanks, it's the only way they would have a space warm enough to molt in the middle of winter. It'll dry the area out a little faster but it doesn't cause any harm to them and it can help boost both the heat and humidity. Any bit of the UTH beneath the surface will give them a strip of varying temps to dig into.