Undertank Heater on Melamine?? Ideas?

Ok so I got the biggest Zoomed UTH they make... I believe its 8x18 or so. My tank sits on the ground becuase its so big....should I get 4 pieces of wood to use as legs under it and put the heater directly on the wood or mount it inside by using slate tiles with rubber feet attached and mounting the UTH to the tile & then sealing it? But then that will not allow air flow? How can I make this work without modifing (sp?) my tank....??

Just mount it to the bottom of the tank (underneath) and get some of those little rubber feet and put on the bottom of the frame so the tank doesn't site on the cord. But the most important thing, is to hook the UTH to a thermostat so you can control the heat! Other wise you could harm your snake, as UTH's get hot, to hot!
And what size is this tank and how big is your snake?

The tank has no air flow... what im going to do is get 4 4x4's and sit the tank on them and put the UTH under the tank so theres an airflow.

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Originally Posted by Bdubedub

The tank has no air flow... what im going to do is get 4 4x4's and sit the tank on them and put the UTH under the tank so theres an airflow.

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Sounds good, you can also just buy those little rubber stopped feet things, but like mentioned before, run the heat on a good thermostat. You dont want to come home to temps in the 100f's. They are worth the investment!!

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Originally Posted by Bdubedub

The tank has no air flow... what im going to do is get 4 4x4's and sit the tank on them and put the UTH under the tank so theres an airflow.

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Too much airflow is almost as bad as none, you want the heat to go through the glass tank and into the tank.
With that much air flow you'll lose a ton of heat.
I'd go with what was mentioned, little rubber feet to just raise the tank up enough to get some air flow.
I've also seen people use wood slats that are about 1/4 inch thick to raise the tank.

One problem guys, he said he's using melamine... even if he minimizes his airflow... he's not going to get much heat transfer through a sheet of coated and sealed wood...

You'd need to place it in the tank, then cover with vinyl, or linoleum. Or make the bottom out of glass :P.

Cheers,
Fatal

I think some pics of your tank would help.

The uth can sit on the melamine and the tank can sit over it and if you like you can sit it up just a touch to allow a little air flow but if you raise it too much a lot of the heat will just seep out the sides and not go into the tank.

Hmmmm, the heat doesn't need to go through the melamine :confused:

I am thinking the bottom of the tank is melamine. PICS

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

The uth can sit on the melamine and the tank can sit over it and if you like you can sit it up just a touch to allow a little air flow but if you raise it too much a lot of the heat will just seep out the sides and not go into the tank.

Hmmmm, the heat doesn't need to go through the melamine :confused:

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Perhaps I misread, I was getting the image that his tank was MADE of melamine... :P

Cheers,
Fatal