ceramic heat question

Ok Im pretty unsure of how to handle the ceramic heat. I live in Minnesota and it is winter here right now. I have 2 20 gallon tank setups for my boys and when I would try to regulate there temps it would go up and down with the heat in the house, anywhere from 85-95 degrees. They each have a zoomed heater under there tanks and I have the self adhesive tiles in both tanks. I bought ceramic heaters for both of them and I am wondering how do I handle this. Do I place it directly on top of there aquariums(when I did it got way to high, over 100, or is it better to hang it above to the heat does not go directly into the tank. Then should it be on a timer, or running constantly. I know in the desert it gets cooler at night and I have been turning them off at night and covering there setups with a towel to keep the heat in. Is there anybody else who is having a hard time regulating there setups because of the seasons and there own house heating issues. Any info would be awesome!!


Linsey

What's the temperature in the tank without the ceramic heat emitter? The CHE is really only used to supplement heat if your UTH does not heat up the tiles well enough, or if your ambient temperature drops below 70 on a consistent basis.

If the inside of your house is already heated, you may not need the ceramic heat emitter. Ambient room temperature of around 70'ish isn't bad for them, as long as the warm spot inside the tank hits 90-95. There are ways to decorate your tank so they get a cozy spot to lay in, such as putting a warm hide with a small opening on top of the UTH. This way the air inside the hide should be warmer, allowing the gecko to lay in there comfortably even if the rest of the tank is cold.

Now if your room's ambient temperature stays below 70, then a CHE may be used to help supplement the heat. If it gets too warm inside the tank, you can control the CHE with a dimmer, or just purchase a lower watt one. Whether you turn it on at night or for how long depends on how cold your room gets. If your room doesn't get below 70 often, then you don't really need to use a CHE.

Hope that helps.

I'd ditch the ceramic heat emitters and buy better uth to be honest. I keep my house at 67 during the day and turn it to 64 at bed time. I'm in north west pa and we get cold nights here too but my temps with the cobra heat mats and a rheostat never fluctuates more than a degree or 2. Difference being cobra uses all copper heating filament, and more bands of it. Most owners don't do their homework and research products before they buy and end up with cheap junk just because it's all they see in stores not thinking to buy on line. Sad thing is cobra mats aren't any more expensive but easily 3x better reliable than zoomed or exo terra imo. I paid under 20$ for my 6x11 7 watt which is perfect for a 20 long.

If your set on using the ceramic heat emitters it sounds like you got too high a wattage. What watt are they? What size is your vivs? 10 or 20 long are only a foot tall and even the lowest wattage che might be too strong. Honestly sounds to me like more of a uth issue that needs fixed.

Guys, your not thinking like a reptile. You have to have some part of the tank in the 80's if you have a moist hide. You don't want them in water that makes them colder if it's under 80 degrees. Wet and cold is not a good idea.

Sorry peach but I was thinking like a thigmatherm, which leos are. And what is important to them, for the most part, is ground temps. As long as the ambient temps are 65 or higher then there is no reason to suppliment heat for air temps. I have my moist hide on top if my hot hide and it makes plenty of condensation in there. If someone has a moist hide so wet that your leo is sitting in water, the hide is too wet and not healthy for your leo regardless of how warm it is. I don't use any overhead heating, my tank is consistently between 96-97* and with proper ground heat, in a viv that is only 1 foot tall with a non arborial thigmathermic species, should suffice, which is why I suggested a better uth and not supplemental ambient heat. Remember heat riseses so ambient temps well be affected with proper ground heating.

Ok, I will look into getting a better under tank heater. The one I have currently only heats the tile to about 90-92 degrees. I have his moist hide right on top of the hot area. I just notice that they both spend all there times in the hot end and the cool end is definitely much cooler around 68 degrees. I thought it I hung the ceramic heater above there cage it would improve the overall ambient heat. Thanks for all the great info!!!

What UTH and what size is it? A lot of the people mistaken the "small" version of Zoo med UTH as the proper one for a 20 gallon because the label says it's for 20 gallon. But for that particular brand, I use the "medium" sized one and it heats the 20 gallon tanks very well.

So a lot depends on the brand you are using. Don't base it on the label itself, look for one that covers 1/3 of the tank. The small version 6x8 doesn't cover 1/3 of the tank, where as the medium sized 8x12 does. A larger heating surface space would also allow you to place multiple warm/moist hides on top of it, which is especially beneficial when you have more than 1 gecko in the tank.

Im using the medium, becuase I thought the one they recommended was way to small for a 20 long. I use the Zoo med brand and I am not at all happy with it. I am currently looking for the cobra uth and having a very hard time finding it. Nobody seems to carry it, or it is out of stock!! I have 2 boys in 2 separate 20 gallon longs and I just worry about them!!

I just posted a thread on where to buy the cobra mats. Unfortunately they're very hard to find in stores and usually need to order on line. The 6x11 size is perfect for a 20 long.

Linsey wrote:Im using the medium, becuase I thought the one they recommended was way to small for a 20 long. I use the Zoo med brand and I am not at all happy with it. I am currently looking for the cobra uth and having a very hard time finding it. Nobody seems to carry it, or it is out of stock!! I have 2 boys in 2 separate 20 gallon longs and I just worry about them!!

That's strange with your temperature issues with the medium sized zoo med UTH honestly. I use both small and medium, the small gets up to around 90-94, while medium usually heats up to over 100. This is using ceramic tiles and paper towels. So I'm not sure why yours aren't heating up to the proper temperature, unless it's related to how you have your substrate setup.

Just trying to save you some money here because I'm not sure buying a lower wattage and smaller UTH would solve your problems, as the medium repti-therm is both larger (8x12) and higher wattage (16w). Cobra heat pads are good heat pads no doubt, but if you have issues getting proper heat right now, you likely will have issues after trying the cobra heat pads.

You can save some money by trying to figure out why you are only getting low 90's on your terrarium floor. If it's indeed due to the ambient temperature being too low, then you will want to look into a CHE. If it's due to how you have applied your substrate, you'll want to look into adjusting that. But really, a zoo med repti-therm medium sized UTH should heat your floors to over 100 using either paper towels or ceramic/slate tiles. If you aren't getting higher temperature, there may be other issues at hand.

Also it's natural for geckos to spend more time in the warm hides during winter seasons. Just as they'll spend a lot of time on the cool side during the summer, they move around according to the seasonal changes. Having a temperature gradient allows them to make that adjustment themselves. So if your concerns are that they don't use the cool side much, getting a new UTH won't solve that as no heat pads that covers 1/3 of the tank is going to heat up the cool half of the tank.

I will work on getting a picture of my setup posted. I have followed the advice on this sight, so hopefully it can be fixed!! Thanks

Kermit wrote:Sorry peach but I was thinking like a thigmatherm, which leos are. And what is important to them, for the most part, is ground temps. As long as the ambient temps are 65 or higher then there is no reason to suppliment heat for air temps. I have my moist hide on top if my hot hide and it makes plenty of condensation in there. If someone has a moist hide so wet that your leo is sitting in water, the hide is too wet and not healthy for your leo regardless of how warm it is. I don't use any overhead heating, my tank is consistently between 96-97* and with proper ground heat, in a viv that is only 1 foot tall with a non arborial thigmathermic species, should suffice, which is why I suggested a better uth and not supplemental ambient heat. Remember heat riseses so ambient temps well be affected with proper ground heating.

kermit I found something intersting.
http://www.eolss.net/Sample-Chapters/C03/E6-71-08-03.pdf

Most terrestrial and arboreal reptiles utilize a mixture of heliothermic and thigmothermic behavior to optimize their body temperatures