One additional mention about this temperature stuff.... Design Engineer by trade, but a BP virgin

I have heard/read that UTH's can be more harmful than they may be worth. To that end, I have set up my 40B tank which has additional fake plants etc. for a newbie "Regular Ball", to only use a black flat bulb type ceramic heater (150W) and a 25W incandescant bulb for a bit more light. Each has it's own 6 buck light dimmer wired to a cheap extension cord for light/heat control. I'll try to add pix - NOT. Anyway, by using an IR temperature gun (~20 bucks anywhere), I have set the dimmer to control the ceramic heater, right side reflector, so that when I measure the top of the right log hide, it reads ~90 degrees +-. (set to whatever you may want/need). I figure that if Mr. Ball wants to rest on top of the right hide, Yes, he loves it ! , he will receive approximately the same quantity of heat as what the top of the log reads.... I believe this to be an accurate analogy for the ceramic heater setting. The dimmer for the regular light bulb - whatever wattage you may use, is set to the lighting level you may want. I told myself to get all this habitat temperature shoot worked out first and then I was ready to get my Ball. I think that the main ADVANTAGE to a dimmer type control is that it is a CONSTANT SETTING without the issue of a thermostats temperature control "swing" (hysteresis), (that could be as many as 2,3,5 degrees or more between turn on and turn off. My rooms ambient temperature stays fairly constant +- couple of degrees and does not present any problems with a "constant dimmer setting". Certainly in the winter months I may have to tweak the heater dimmer a bit, but no problem. Just make sure to make any dimmer adjustment in small increments and check the temps with you new IR gun.... Anyway, that is my story and I'm sticking to it...

Hank (how post pix???) anyway, just imagine my pix.... I'll figure it out later...