Increasing ambient temp - using rocks

In a post by kitedemon, he had a really interesting idea about using rocks to store and radiate heat.

My thought would be to keep some rocks on top of the UTH behind and around the hid. Does anyone have any idea if the rocks will do a better job at transferring heat from the UTH into the air to increase the ambient temp?

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Originally Posted by Rusky

In a post by kitedemon, he had a really interesting idea about using rocks to store and radiate heat.

My thought would be to keep some rocks on top of the UTH behind and around the hid. Does anyone have any idea if the rocks will do a better job at transferring heat from the UTH into the air to increase the ambient temp?

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For me, increasing ambient temp wasn't accomplished until I had a lamp. My house is constantly between 71F-74F. An under tank heater doesn't have enough enough power to raise ambient temp even with rocks.

I've asked more than a few questions about this issue on this site before.

I eventually settled on using a red bulb (60 watt worked for me) that runs 24/7 along with the UTH. Don't forget to use a thermostat with the UTH either. (My brand new zoo-med was at 112F plugged directly into the wall YIKES!).

Hope this helps.

I put pavers under my 10 gallons with the UTHs. the pavers hold the heat in and disperse it better around the hot side. They also hold heat for about 15 minutes if there is a power outage.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rusky

In a post by kitedemon, he had a really interesting idea about using rocks to store and radiate heat.

My thought would be to keep some rocks on top of the UTH behind and around the hid. Does anyone have any idea if the rocks will do a better job at transferring heat from the UTH into the air to increase the ambient temp?

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Good idea! I'm going to try putting some big polished rocks that I have in hide boxes under the heat lamps.

I have a small rock for decoration that just happens to be on the warm side, and I find that my bp will often be cuddled next to it or wrapped around it, so she must enjoy having a warm rock there.