Please! Help a new person with bp tub setup!

I'm getting my first bp this Wednesday (April 1st). I'm doing the tub rather than a glass setup. I have everything I need... tub with several drilled holes, 2 identical hides, aspen, water dish, spray bottle, UTH, CHE & digital therm/hyg. (If I'm missing anything, please feel free to let me know! :) )I'm assuming I just clamp the CHE right above the top of the lid??? Does anyone have pictures of their tub set ups? I'm wondering how much melting or warping is going to happen with the UTH & the CHE.... ?

You should try to get by without using the CHE. Usually a UTH on a thermostat will be sufficient to heat a tub. There should be no melting because that would mean your heating elements are getting waaaay to hot. Again you need some sort of thermostat or rheostat to control your UTH, very important. This is what my 15qt tub set up looks like....

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...o/100_2283.jpg

how are you going ot use a che with a plastic tub? that sounds like an issue waiting to happen.

Looks like I will be taking the CHE back and getting a rheostat! This is very helpful. Thanks a bunch, guys! :)

Rheostats work well if your room temps are stable at all times, if not an on/off type would be better. Ranco and Johnson are good reliable thermostats that are relatively affordable. On the higher end of the spectrum are proportional thermostats which are the best you can get to control your temps. Helix and Herpstat are two good brands for proportional thermostats.

I second the Ranco pre-wired thermostats you can get them here. I have been using it and haven't encountered _Any_ problems as of yet.