I'll warn you right now that I'm a newbie too, so this might be like the blind leading the blind haha, but I've read that there should be a space in-between the heating mat and whatever it's sitting on. My ZooMed UTH came with four little rubber feet that I stuck on the four corners under with my 20 gallon long tank, so the heating mat/pad isn't sitting directly on the bookshelf plywood. If you don't have the little rubber feet, you can also use four little stacks of a few pennies taped or glued together to elevate your tank off whatever it's sitting on.
As as far as thermostat probe placement, I've read elsewhere on these forums that it's supposed to be placed directly between the heating pad and the tank, if your UTH has a sticky side that's directly stuck on the tank, remove it (or at least like some of it) from the glass and stick the thermostat probe (NOT THERMOMETER PROBE!) directly to the UTH. That way it can get the most accurate reading since it's stuck right on there.
Reply With Quote