New tub set up/confusing myself

[BenzieBox]

I need some serious clarification here. There is so much information on this forum and I'm having a hard time sorting through it all. Couple that with stress from school right now and my brain is shot.

I have an adult male spider morph bp who is currently in a nice tub set up. I have two pieces of reptile heat tape along the bottom of the entire tub underneath. Left side is the warm side/right side is the cool side. My house is generally kept at around 68-70ish degrees(I just ordered a thermo/hygro for my living room so I can monitor ambient temps/humidity) The hot side stays around 90-92 and the cool side moves around 80-82. Currently both sides are hooked up to individual thermostats(I use the hydrofarm brands) so it gives a digital read off of which side is set to what temp. Acurite thermo/hygro reads off proper temps(stated earlier) My ambient room temperature is obviously too cool which is why I need to control his cool side with the thermostat so it's in an acceptable range for him. I've had this set up going for about 5-6 years now and haven't had any problems with temp/humidity. I'm picking up a new bp soon and am currently getting things together to make second tub set up. I have two more sheets of heat tape to use the same way that I use for my spider but now I'm wondering if this is all overkill with the thermostats. Is there any other streamlined way to regulate the cool side and the hot side? I'm trying to read through threads and stickys but am just either oblivious to the answer or am overthinking things way too much.

What I was thinking of doing was using the two thermostats I have currently for each tubs hot side. Then I would buy something for the cool side separately like maybe a rheo? But I keep hearing a lot of mixed reviews on these so I was going to look into reptile specific ones. My leopard gecko has a ZooMed ReptiTemp 500R remote sensor thermostat(I know this isn't the same as a rheo) for his heat tape. This thing has been working great for me for years now and I've always had very stable temps in his enclosure. Would I be able to use this for the cool side as well?

I guess my biggest question is what's the most streamlined way to monitor both sides temps, since my ambient temp is so low in my living room? If I have to have multiple thermostats going then so be it because I'm going to do what's best for my snake(s) I just want to make sure I'm not doing something dumb by having too much of something going on or being redundant with the set up. I just want somthing that makes sense.

If clarification is needed please ask. I can't post pictures right this moment because I'm at work but I can update later with pics of the current set up if requested.

[Gunner253]

I need some serious clarification here. There is so much information on this forum and I'm having a hard time sorting through it all. Couple that with stress from school right now and my brain is shot.

I have an adult male spider morph bp who is currently in a nice tub set up. I have two pieces of reptile heat tape along the bottom of the entire tub underneath. Left side is the warm side/right side is the cool side. My house is generally kept at around 68-70ish degrees(I just ordered a thermo/hygro for my living room so I can monitor ambient temps/humidity) The hot side stays around 90-92 and the cool side moves around 80-82. Currently both sides are hooked up to individual thermostats(I use the hydrofarm brands) so it gives a digital read off of which side is set to what temp. Acurite thermo/hygro reads off proper temps(stated earlier) My ambient room temperature is obviously too cool which is why I need to control his cool side with the thermostat so it's in an acceptable range for him. I've had this set up going for about 5-6 years now and haven't had any problems with temp/humidity. I'm picking up a new bp soon and am currently getting things together to make second tub set up. I have two more sheets of heat tape to use the same way that I use for my spider but now I'm wondering if this is all overkill with the thermostats. Is there any other streamlined way to regulate the cool side and the hot side? I'm trying to read through threads and stickys but am just either oblivious to the answer or am overthinking things way too much.

What I was thinking of doing was using the two thermostats I have currently for each tubs hot side. Then I would buy something for the cool side separately like maybe a rheo? But I keep hearing a lot of mixed reviews on these so I was going to look into reptile specific ones. My leopard gecko has a ZooMed ReptiTemp 500R remote sensor thermostat(I know this isn't the same as a rheo) for his heat tape. This thing has been working great for me for years now and I've always had very stable temps in his enclosure. Would I be able to use this for the cool side as well?

I guess my biggest question is what's the most streamlined way to monitor both sides temps, since my ambient temp is so low in my living room? If I have to have multiple thermostats going then so be it because I'm going to do what's best for my snake(s) I just want to make sure I'm not doing something dumb by having too much of something going on or being redundant with the set up. I just want somthing that makes sense.

If clarification is needed please ask. I can't post pictures right this moment because I'm at work but I can update later with pics of the current set up if requested.

if the heat tape is the same length, size and wattage for both tubs you can wire them together and use the same two thermostats you have now. Either daisy chain the two hot side tapes together and plug in to one thermostat or wire separately and plug in to a strip and then the strip in to the stat. Do the same for the other side tapes and your running both tubs off the same two stats. That's how you would do it in a rack so it would be the same for just two tubs. If the flexwatt is different then you'd have to either get more stats or switch the tape so they are the same

[BenzieBox]

if the heat tape is the same length, size and wattage for both tubs you can wire them together and use the same two thermostats you have now. Either daisy chain the two hot side tapes together and plug in to one thermostat or wire separately and plug in to a strip and then the strip in to the stat. Do the same for the other side tapes and your running both tubs off the same two stats. That's how you would do it in a rack so it would be the same for just two tubs. If the flexwatt is different then you'd have to either get more stats or switch the tape so they are the same

Luckily all of the tape I have is flexwatt brand from Big Apple herp. It's also all the exact same length. Also you're a genius. I had no idea I could plug the flexwatt into a strip and then the strip into the thermostat. That makes absolutely perfect sense. And I am reading you correctly, yes? By plugging the flex into the strip and then strip into thermostat it should operate all flexwatt on that hot side? So in theory I could use two plug strips and designate one as the hot strip and one as the cool strip?

[Gunner253]

Exactly! That's how you would wire a rack too if you decide to go that route in the future

[BenzieBox]

I'm definitely going to build a rack system eventually and this makes a ton of sense to use the thermostats this way. I figured there was a more logical approach to the way I was setting things up. Thanks for you help!

[BenzieBox]

I thought of another question...what about the probe for the thermostats? Where would that go? Just in the one cage and then monitor the other with a thermometer? Or am I missing something here?

[BenzieBox]

Never mind I figured out how I'm going to rig it up!