Help with Flex Watt Question and temps... ugh!

Ok I posted this question already last week with no response so I went ahead with my "IDEA" Now I have a situation. I have a 25 qt tub measurements 24"X15"X6". I purchased 3" Flex Watt and have 2' ish running underneath the length of the tub. It's hooked up to a Hydrofarm tsat with an aucrite tmometer. When I connected the Flexwatt to the tstat i placed the tmometer on the Flexwatt as well and the #'s matched for temps. Ok so I've adjusted it overnight and today and cannot get the correct temps. I'm getting max 88 hot 85 cool/ambient with 52% humidity. The tstat is at max set at 107 (108 is auto shut off). Question is should I just go ahead and order 11" flexwatt, if so should this correct the temps or can I get a zoo med uth close by like at the pet store. I will be ordering a T8 by the winter and moving my baby boy as soon as he's ready for the up size. I also have about 3'ish extra Flexwatt not sure if doubling it would give me the right cool temp or cool side. Thanks for reading and hopefully answering :D

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Originally Posted by luluizzi

Ok I posted this question already last week with no response so I went ahead with my "IDEA" Now I have a situation. I have a 25 qt tub measurements 24"X15"X6". I purchased 3" Flex Watt and have 2' ish running underneath the length of the tub. It's hooked up to a Hydrofarm tsat with an aucrite tmometer. When I connected the Flexwatt to the tstat i placed the tmometer on the Flexwatt as well and the #'s matched for temps. Ok so I've adjusted it overnight and today and cannot get the correct temps. I'm getting max 88 hot 85 cool/ambient with 52% humidity. The tstat is at max set at 107 (108 is auto shut off). Question is should I just go ahead and order 11" flexwatt, if so should this correct the temps or can I get a zoo med uth close by like at the pet store. I will be ordering a T8 by the winter and moving my baby boy as soon as he's ready for the up size. I also have about 3'ish extra Flexwatt not sure if doubling it would give me the right cool temp or cool side. Thanks for reading and hopefully answering :D

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It means your room is too cold to run the flexwatt if your Tstat is at it's max. Bump up your ambient temp a little bit.
And what is the temperature of the hotspot in the tub? Lower I assume? You want your thermometer probe inside the tub, not outside on the flexwatt.

luluizzi its nice to see another member here from our area!

Do you have pics of the tub you are using? A thicker tub could assist with holding in the heat a little better.
Also in my experience flexwatt works alot better than the pads that you can pick up at petsmart.

Wink: Also ill be selling my T8 with RHP in the next few weeks. Its used but only 9 months old and in perfect condition.

Yeah I live in MS.. My room was reading almost 80 last night. I have pics will post tonight. So you think maybe a diff tub or the 11"?

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The room temperature is most likely your culprit. Heat tape is intended to create a hot spot, not to dramatically influence your tub's ambient or "cool" temps. One other thing to consider - Switching to 11" tape is not necessarily going to give you more heat because the wattage per square inch won't be any higher (http://www.reptilebasics.com/flexwatt_faq).

Wink: Also ill be selling my T8 with RHP in the next few weeks. Its used but only 9 months old and in perfect condition.[/QUOTE]

I would like to consider that one...thanks

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Sounds odd... do you happen to have a infrared temp gun? I wan't to know if your flexwatt is truly reaching 107 degrees. It doesn't sound like it. Can you verify your connections to the flex watt are good? And also that all parts of the tape are getting warm.

If your room is at 80f degrees the thickness of the tub should not matter. That would only be if you kept the room below 75f.

Are you using a substrate or only just measuring the temps in the bottom of a bare tub?

a quick reference: It takes my thermostat set to 103f on 11" flexwatt to go through the bottom of my T8 and reach a temp of 93f then another 2-4 degrees is lost with the substrate. Giving a surface temp of 89-91 on the hot spot. However under his warm hide and after he is laying there its always 91-92 unless he moves his hide off the hot spot which he does daily. He moves all 4 hides around the cage, and he never likes to leave it the way we put it.

This is how the tub sits on the flexwatt, length wise
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2...D550/ry%3D400/
Thermometer probe inside t stat probe under on top of flexwatt.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2...D550/ry%3D400/
Newspaper for substrate and cool side hide on left warm hide on right, thermometer also on left lower is cool top is hot.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2...D550/ry%3D400/
Hot side was up to 89 and ambient 86 when I got home this afternoon. Only 3 degrees that is the bigger problem.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2...D550/ry%3D400/
So Maybe I have too many vent holes, I just covered all the top set on front and back length
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2...D550/ry%3D400/
Sigi and I have been trying to figure out where we went wrong and the kid just laughs at us.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2...D550/ry%3D400/
Please tell me other than getting an IR (which I forgot) and know I HAVE to have and would probably answer all my questions right now. What should I change or correct to get the hot and ambient right. Again thanks for all your help and suggestions. :D

Just an update. I taped some of the vent holes on the outside of the tub and adjusted where the thermometer was and it's probe. I now have my thermostat is set at 100 and the temps are at 89/ 79 but now the humidity is a little high. Working on that now ans should be ready to get my baby very soon. Thanks for all of the help you guys!!:banana:

Well I am still pretty new to BPs myself but based on the many posts on tub setups I have read on here I would say right away that your heat source is placed wrong. The post on here I set up mine after showed having the heat pad covering nearly half the underside of the tub...cross ways not length ways like you have it. Hopefully someone with more experience can comment here too.