Help setting up 20L with UTH & Tile

[Weirik]

Hey Everyone,

I'm going to be purchasing a Leo again (been 10 years since my last one) and I have a few questions if some of you guru's can help me out.

First, I bought this stand. I plan on using a 20 gal long tank with slate tile and a UTH.

I'm wondering which size UTH I should get (small or medium) with the tile?

The small says for 10 - 20 and the medium says 30 - 40. The 20L is the same footprint as the 30; however, I think it is about half the tank and I'm wondering if the tile may spread too much heat with the larger size. Notice the stand has an open top so the UTH will not be enclosed allowing heat to dissipate. I'm not sure how much of a factor that will play and if that will reduce the heat too much. If it doesn’t heat enough I can use a lamp, if it's too hot, I can add newspaper or sand under the tile.

My room is upstairs and is generally pretty warm. Downstairs is generally between 72 - 78 so upstairs is anywhere from 75 - 85ish max during peak summer. I keep my window open at night and the tank will be about 7 feet away, so it should cool down enough at night. I'll probably end up getting a thermostat to regulate the UTH. I would imagine the UTH could stay on all the time since the cool side should reach 65 - 75 at night.

I was thinking of getting the Zoo Med Combo Dome Lamp with the day and night bulb for back up heat if needed.

I'm going to stage the tank first to see what the temp will be like on each side and determine if I need a heat bulb or a regular bulb for day light. I'm guessing I would do the same for night with just a red or black bulb that produces very little heat.

I know a day bulb isn't necessary, but I generally keep my blinds shut to keep the room cool and even with them open, it's not exactly a ton of light.

Thanks in advance for any help! I know it's a bit complex. It's all speculation at this point so I'm hoping some people here have some experience in this situation.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

For a 20 gallon long tank, get the medium sized UTH. Small is a tad too small. And no you won't mess up the temperature gradient, and tiles won't really spread heat that much. They conduct heat well, but the heat from UTH doesn't really spread far at all. They'll be very warm at the spot where UTH covers.

That stand will work fine, and you shouldn't run into under-heating. The medium pad heats my tiles to around 100 degrees. So if anything, you may want to get a thermostat to regulate the temperature. But I doubt you'll have to worry about not enough heat by using the medium UTH.

 

[Weirik]

Ok, cool. Yeah, I was thinking that the small would be a tad too small. I'm hoping with the bottom of the heater being open that it will not create too much heat, but I'll grab a thermostat just in case.

So I probably do not need any bulbs that produce heat, right? Same for night? Also, did you put the tile directly on the glass?

Thanks again!

 

[OnlineGeckos]

You probably won't need additional heat no, but always check the floor temperature to make sure. You can place the tiles directly on the glass, I like to lay a layer of paper towels.

 

[Weirik]

Perfect. Ok, now if I can pick your brain about a few more things.

I understand that I won't need a hydrometer, so I'm looking a my options for temperature readings and thermostats.

I was looking at getting one or two of these ESU thermometers and this temp gun.

I'm not sure which type of thermostat or rheostat (not sure the difference)would be good for just hooking up the heating pad. Wouldn't that leave me with three probes in the tank? What would you suggest?

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Temperature gun is very easy to use, I prefer it as it's just point & click. Great if you have multiple tanks. Thermostat will actually regulate the temperature of your UTH, and depending on the kind you get, one type will shutoff the UTH when the temperature goes above the threshold, the other type (proportional) will reduce the power output to lower the UTH temperature to where you set it at.

Rheostat is like a light dimmer, and I'd say if you are going to spend money, go with thermostat rather than rheostat. Rheostat will not turn off the UTH if it overheats, so it's not really effective.

You really just need an UTH + thermostat and you should be set to leave it on 24/7 and not have to worry about it again. If you want to get a digital thermometer with probe or a temp gun to test the temperature initially you can, but you don't need them all and you don't need to leave the probe in there once you have the thermostat setup.

 

[Weirik]

Is there a particular thermostat you recommend?

Also, I'm a little confused when you said I could remove the probe after the thermostat has been set up. Isn't that how it determines when to shut off the heat source?

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Is there a particular thermostat you recommend?

Also, I'm a little confused when you said I could remove the probe after the thermostat has been set up. Isn't that how it determines when to shut off the heat source?

When I said probe I mean if you were to purchase one of those digital thermometer with probe to put in the tank. You have to leave the probe that comes from thermostat in there. But your initial concern was that there would be too many things inside the tank :main_yes:

As for brand, proportional thermostats are a tad more expensive, popular ones are Herpstat and Helix. The less expensive ones are non-proportional ones, you can find them via various brands with a lil google lookup.

 

[Weirik]

Thanks again! I ended up going with the one from Big Apple Herps. Seemed like a pretty good one. A lot of the others had pretty poor reviews. :main_thumbsup: