OH, perhaps this is where you're confused. If you refer to my original post, I said I have a 20L tank. It's 30"x12". So probably the 4 inches in the middle will be hot, the 4 inches to either side will be warm, but then there are still 9 in on either side for it to cool down further.
That said, I think my best bet is to use 2 UTHs. Since no one seems to have any reason the hot middle won't work though, I'll keep it in mind as a backup.