UTH Thermostat temp question
We are new to BPs after having researched care, feeding and general knowledge of keeping them. I have set up a 20L glass tank with a Zilla UTH and digital thermostat, probe placed between the UTH and glass, bottom outside. I’ll post other questions in another thread so as not to confuse topics.
I have the thermostat set to 97* and the glass inside the tank bottom, above the UTH is 84*, the temp in the hide on the warm side is 85*.
It has been set up 3 days.
Is it normal to have that much discrepancy from what the thermostat is set to, and what is transferred into the enclosure?
Thanks for any info!
Re: UTH Thermostat temp question
Welcome to the forums!
I'll start by saying I have zero experience with Zilla's heat mats so I can't speak to the effectiveness or reliability of them. I do think that that's a big difference. For example, I have both of my thermostats set to 95 with zoomed UTHs and the glass on the inside is 89-90. Are you using the recommended sized mat for your enclosure size? Also how big of a probe does your thermostat have? I noticed Zoomed thermostats are quite a bit bigger, and create a huge bulge in the mat under the tank, so there's less mat making contact with the glass, ergo less heat transfer. I initially fixed this with some duct tape, but later switched to a different brand thermostat with a smaller probe so more of the mat is actually touching the glass.
Re: UTH Thermostat temp question
Thank you for the welcome and reply. The mat is an 8 watt and supposed to be good for 10-20 gallon tank. You are correct regarding the t stat bulb- it does create somewhat of a partial an air gap between the mat and glass.
Re: UTH Thermostat temp question
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SharkFan
Thank you for the welcome and reply. The mat is an 8 watt and supposed to be good for 10-20 gallon tank. You are correct regarding the t stat bulb- it does create somewhat of a partial an air gap between the mat and glass.
Yea the one I have on my 20long is a 8 watt as well. Either your mat/thermostat is faulty, or that gap created by the probe is causing some issues. Before I swapped thermostats, it was a pretty sizable air pocket created by the probe and I had a really hard time doing anything with it. Putting duct tape all around the sides to hold it on well helped, but it didn't "fix" the issue. I swapped to Jumpstart thermostats not long after and that and their probes are a little smaller, that seemed to fix the issue. Not saying you need to buy new equipment, it just timed out where I was replacing things to try some new products out and that happened to solve the issue for me.
Re: UTH Thermostat temp question
I think you may be onto something with the air gap and don’t think the mat is faulty. Before I had the t stat and BP, I plugged the heat mat in and the glass inside the tank was 109* measured with an infrared thermometer.
I can still turn the thermostat up a few degrees and get it a bit warmer in the hide. At 84 I think I’m pretty close, and temps seem to remain stable.
Re: UTH Thermostat temp question
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SharkFan
I think you may be onto something with the air gap and don’t think the mat is faulty. Before I had the t stat and BP, I plugged the heat mat in and the glass inside the tank was 109* measured with an infrared thermometer.
I can still turn the thermostat up a few degrees and get it a bit warmer in the hide. At 84 I think I’m pretty close, and temps seem to remain stable.
Yea if you can get it up just a few degrees you'd be fine. I use to stress a lot about that "90 degree hotspot" a lot of care guides talk about, but I've had pretty good luck with everything ranging from 86 to 90. I think you'll be fine, just have to either turn the thermostat up or maybe play around with the probe to get more contact with the glass.
