New herpstat questions

[Christiane]

I just got a new Herpstat and am wondering which setting is best for my setup. I have a RHP which I believe I have read is best on dimming? And I also have heat tape that I will be regulating and unsure at which setting it should be on.

Any advice for me would be awesome, thank you!


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[Christiane]

Also if anyone could give any suggestions on probe placement for both the RHP and the heat tape. I have read overall there are many opinions for probe placement such as far cool side or hanging by heat source but not too close. Although in those cases they were using solely RHP and not in conjunction with heat tape


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[SDA]

What type of enclosure do you have? PVC like Animal Plastics and Reptile Basics have groove slots for UTH placement.

Heat tape is between the bottom of the enclosure and the heat tape. Probe is placed perpendicular to the black lines on the heat tape so opposite in direction of the way the black lines go. This allows for better reading of the heat generated by the tape.

As shown here (arrow showing probe direction)



If RHP is used on the hot side, probe is placed on the cool side near the bottom (not on the bottom) of the enclosure. This then allows you to set the cool side temp and should provide adequate hot side temps. You may have to adjust the herpstat a few times to get your temps right. Use an IR temp gun to read temps.

If like me, you use the RHP in the middle of the tank for ambient control, you place the probe near the RHP under it. This allows me to get the temps I want setting it to the desired ambient temp (81.5 degrees in my case). It has a hot spot directly under it and on top of rocks (I placed them under the RHP for basking) of around 84-85 but controls ambient temps perfectly (79-80). Again you may have to adjust the herpstat a few times to get temps right.


I made my probe by bending a white close hanger and securing with zip ties. Note that I bent a loop around the probe area to prevent sharp edges and have a cradle to hold the probe. the hanger is screwed into one of the screws holding the RHP with a washer to keep it in place.




Edit: tip - when having cables inside the enclosure, secure them down then secure them down some more. Your snake will do everything to play with them.

[SDA]

Here is an example of probe placement on the side of the tank. If you have the probe on the cool side, I highly recommend placing it alongside the tank wall and not out from it as showing in this image from a forum post here

[Christiane]

Thank you guys so much! So I do have an animal plastics t8 that I have my noodle in (his name is Snape). I have heat tape currently and the probe is under the tank between the heat tape and the tank so that I am doing correctly. Now my question is.., I have the heat tape and the RHP on the same side (right side of my tank is the hot side where I have them). Now I previously used only belly heat but I live in Massachusetts and it gets quite cold here during the winter. With that, I live in the basement and the ambient temps in my room are about 68 for example (usually 70 but just for arguments sake 68). A lot of ppl say a RHP will be more than enough to handle that. So is it detrimental for Snape to turn off belly heat when he has been used to that for the past few months and solely focus on the RHP for his heat source. Or is there a way to run both the RHP and the heat tape safely and comfortably for him on the same side of my T8.


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[Christiane]

Here is an example of probe placement on the side of the tank. If you have the probe on the cool side, I highly recommend placing it alongside the tank wall and not out from it as showing in this image from a forum post here

Even if I have both the RHP and heat tape on the right side I should put the probe on the cool side?

I am trying to create the hotspot with the heat tape which is its intended use and supplement for the ambient temps with the RHP which is directly above it.

I should mention in conjunction with the thermostat I do use an IR to get the floor temps and stuff so I could measure that way and dial the thermostat up or down using that as my guide but I’m just trying to find best practice and what has worked for most people in a cooler climate, etc


Thank you again for the information and help. I truly appreciate everyone who takes the time to give me any advice at all, I learn so much whenever I come on here and I just wanna do what’s best for Snape


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[SDA]

I can't share experience with putting the RHP on the hot side and the probe on the cool because that is not how I do it. I have cold climate in the winter as well and what will work best for me might not be the popular way or work for you. Other people here have done that so they may be able to help you dial in the placement if you want to do the hot side RHP / cool side probe setup.

I placed my RHP in the front middle of the tank to give an all over raise in ambient temp and left the heat tape to create a floor hot spot. I have also placed rocks under the RHP to provide radiating heat back to the enclosure which while it is slight, does also help.

This allows the far side away from the under tank heat to gradually step down in temperature while still providing a cool side hide that is above the minimum recommended temperature levels. While the far right of the enclosure wall can get cool, the hide itself does not fall below 77 degrees. I still have yet to go through the coldest part of the year with this new herpstat so I have not figured the ideal winter setting and may need to up the temp setting but I don't feel I will need to by more than a half degree or so.

Edit: You have a herpstat 2 right? You need independent heat control and probes for the heat tape and RHP. You cannot adequately control both with a herpstat 1

[Christiane]

I can't share experience with putting the RHP on the hot side and the probe on the cool because that is not how I do it. I have cold climate in the winter as well and what will work best for me might not be the popular way or work for you. Other people here have done that so they may be able to help you dial in the placement if you want to do the hot side RHP / cool side probe setup.

I placed my RHP in the front middle of the tank to give an all over raise in ambient temp and left the heat tape to create a floor hot spot. I have also placed rocks under the RHP to provide radiating heat back to the enclosure which while it is slight, does also help.

This allows the far side away from the under tank heat to gradually step down in temperature while still providing a cool side hide that is above the minimum recommended temperature levels. While the far right of the enclosure wall can get cool, the hide itself does not fall below 77 degrees. I still have yet to go through the coldest part of the year with this new herpstat so I have not figured the ideal winter setting and may need to up the temp setting but I don't feel I will need to by more than a half degree or so.

That’s kind of what my plan was. Just try and regulate safely. If my rhp is turned a bit lower while my heat tape works for the 88-92 hot spot that’s fine as long as the ambient doesn’t drop too low. I just was unsure since I haven’t read about many people using both where they found the most success. Thank you for your response and I appreciate it a lot. So I suppose I’m going to just experiment (safely and watching closely often) what works best for my set up.


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[SDA]

As I asked in an edit, you have a herpstat 2 right? You can't adequately regulate heat with only one control. A herpstat 1 will not cut it. You need to have independent heat control for each heat element, hence why a herpstat 2 is the minimum single thermostat that will work for this type of setup. If you have a herpstat 1, you need to get a seperate thermostat for the RHP or heat tape, which ever is not controlled by the herpstat.

Just want to make sure.

[Christiane]

As I asked in an edit, you have a herpstat 2 right? You can't adequately regulate heat with only one control. A herpstat 1 will not cut it. You need to have independent heat control for each heat element, hence why a herpstat 2 is the minimum single thermostat that will work for this type of setup. If you have a herpstat 1, you need to get a seperate thermostat for the RHP or heat tape, which ever is not controlled by the herpstat.

Just want to make sure.

Oops sorry! Missed the edit but yes I do have a herpstat 2 to control the heat source separately. I have also an older (not as efficient) Zilla thermostat if for some reason I needed an extra for whatever other issue may arise until I had a better regulation system. I would never leave any heat source unregulated and never have but did recently learn about the separation for thermostats which is why I purchased the herpstat 2.


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