UTH not working properly.

I have a 20 gallon aquarium tank and a UTH. My problem is the UTH only heats up the sife of the tank its on. It does nothing for the cool side of the tank and that side gets very cold. I am currently using heat lights, but would like to get away from it. Any ideas on what I can do to make the UTH work?

I can guarentee that the UTH is actually getting too hot. I have the same setup and my temp gun read over 130* directly above the UTH....which is WAY too hot. How are you reading temps?

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Originally Posted by LGray23

I can guarentee that the UTH is actually getting too hot. I have the same setup and my temp gun read over 130* directly above the UTH....which is WAY too hot. How are you reading temps?

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I have a digital thermometer with probe that sits right on the surface of the tank. That reads 130 as well which I know is way to hot. I was going to by a thermostat, but then realized the other side wasn't heating up at all so I unplugged the UTH and pulled out my heat lamps I had packed up.

Definitely get a thermostat. It may have to do with your room temps. I keep my room at about 80degrees (uncomfortable for me but idc lol) this way my tank remains at 85 ambient + a uth on the warm side (one bp is in a tub, I'll be switching the other over after some weight gain). If you're room is cold maybe you should use two uth's and set the one on the cool side about ten degrees lower. Granted, it's more expensive, but may eliminate the need for lamps. I don't use a lamp on my tank.

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Originally Posted by Kymberli

Definitely get a thermostat. It may have to do with your room temps. I keep my room at about 80degrees (uncomfortable for me but idc lol) this way my tank remains at 85 ambient + a uth on the warm side (one bp is in a tub, I'll be switching the other over after some weight gain). If you're room is cold maybe you should use two uth's and set the one on the cool side about ten degrees lower. Granted, it's more expensive, but may eliminate the need for lamps. I don't use a lamp on my tank.

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My room is no where 80 degrees. My wife keeps the house around the high 60's in winter since we have oil heat so its expensive to heat. In the summer she will keep it around 75 degrees. Maybe I will get a second uth and 2 thermostats. Good thing I get paid in 2 days!!! If anybody has any other suggestions I am all ears!

Seeing as your house is fairly cool, I think 2 uth would help a ton! Or switch to tubs ;) So much easier to maintain heat and humidity! Good luck!

I was actually thinking about switching to tubs. I have some in the attic. What exactly should I do to set the tub up properly?

Would it be possible to maybe place the heat lamp way above the tank to warm the whole area up (so the tank is in an area around 80 degrees) and then use the UTH with a thermostat?

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...my-Ball-Python
:)

I suppose you can try that, with the lamp over your tank. But, with how cool the room is, Idk how much that would help. It would probably still give you humidity trouble since heat lamps evaporate the moisture in the air. I have one tub and one tank, trust me, you won't regret switching to tubs.

I use a plug in lamp dimmer to control my UTH in my tank (not my rack) and I have a temp gun to check my temps. (tempguns.com has a really good one for sale for $35.00). At the very least, if you don't get a thermostat you should get the dimmer and temp gun. You'll have to check it about 2-3 times a day though to make sure it doesn't rise or drop below where you want it. I only have to adjust mine a teeny bit if at all.

If you don't mind me asking what is a dimmer? Sorry as you can tell I am definetely new to this. I actually thought I did all my homework with the set up before I got my snake. Guess I was wrong. Luckily I am still keeping everything the proper temps and humidity just a lot of adjusting throughout the day.

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Originally Posted by Daniel Tuttle

If you don't mind me asking what is a dimmer? Sorry as you can tell I am definetely new to this. I actually thought I did all my homework with the set up before I got my snake. Guess I was wrong. Luckily I am still keeping everything the proper temps and humidity just a lot of adjusting throughout the day.

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A dimmer is just a basic plug in lamp dimmer that you can get at Lowes or Home Depot for about $10-$15. They look something like this:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Instructions

If you are looking for some inexpensive thermostats, you can check these out:

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...1529683&sr=1-7

If you need to raise the ambient temps in your tank, you can try covering the two ends and back with foam board or cardboard to help insulate it. You can usually find foam board at Wal-Mart or Target in the school supplies section with the poster board. It will also help if you position the lamp about half way between the center and end of the top, and cover the exposed screen with aluminum foil.

Thank you to everyone for your help! I bought two dimmers today and I have one for the UTH and one for the heat lamp. Unfortunately I still have to use the heat lamp due to my wife keeping the house to cold. But I now have stable and proper temps! 91 on the hot side and 80-82 on the cool side! And for the humidity I got a 3 dollar dripper and some moss and it is no steady at 58%. I am going to wait to switch to tubs because I am getting 2 more snakes by the end of the year so I am going to build a rack and then switch to tubs. Figured I would just wait and do it all at once! Thank you again!

Well I have been having the same problems and we switched to a tub, and it did nothing to help with heat, it was exactly the same as the glass tank. All it did was make the humidity higher. And, because you can't put a heat lamp on plastic, we have now switched back to the tank. I figured if I needed a lamp and a UTH, I'd rather it be in a glass tank.
This is just so difficult! I'm literally going crazy, buying and returning things because everyone says something different and it never works.
So, our ambint temps are still not at 80, they are at 75, but its better than 70 which is what it was in the tub. let me know what works for you in the end.

I have two different set ups going now and they are both perfect in husbandry. First my glass tank. I have a heat lamp on a dimmer switch and UTH on a dimmer. There are both around 50% power. This makes my ambient at 80 degrees and my hot spot is between 90-92. It will drop to 90 at night. The humidity was at 40 so I made a humidity box and got a mister and now it goes between 50 and 55.

Now my other is a tub. I bought a deep tub and I do use a 50w heat lamp on it and it is as well plugged into a dimmer. (I have not had a problem with the heat lamp on plastic at all. I also put wood over with a hole cutout for the lamp. I also have a UTH. This keeps my hot spot between 90-92 and ambient around 80. The humidity is at 55 without any other methods!

That seems like a fine solution there is no right answer for a situation just variations that work. As long as you have the correct temps and humidity it is all cool. I also live in a cold house and have similar issues. I found like one of the other posted comments tubs are a pain to get right and required fussing with. The easy solution is to heat the room to 80 but that is inefficient for one or two animals. I use a dual UTH's on both enclosures and on a rack the rack was quite difficult as I needed controlers for the hot and cool sides but also for the top and bottom as the temps from the bottom to top vary So I have 4 controllers for my rack one for all the cool sides and one for the hot spot top and second one for the middle ones and one for the bottom two. (herpstat pro)

The funny thing in my case is I am saving money by doing this I paid for the herpstat in 2 months over the winter as the cost of heating the room to 80 was exceptional (300$ more on the power bill). This is my solution It worked for me but not everyone has my issues (drafty old house) I am completely OCD about temps and am unwilling to accept variation outside my control.

Daniel- how big is your tank, what's the height? What wattage bulb are you using?
I have the same set up but my ambient temp won't get higher than 75. My ceramic bulb is a 60 watt.