Tile, heat and UTH?

[defieldsfamily]

Having switched to a tile substrate yesterday, I put my hand on the tile surface in her warm hide to make sure it wasn't getting TOO warm and couldn't actually feel any warmth at all. I checked and the UTH mat thing is warm but can it not move up through the glass of the tank and the tile???

 

[Jordan]

i dont know never had them but i know loads of people on here have so shouldnt be too long til you get a useful reply.

 

[Geckoguy77]

My UTHs both work pretty well. It only gets warm right above the heater however. Both of my tanks have 1" thick limestone on the bottom During the day the temp in the warm hides are about 90 (plus/minus a couple degrees depending on the day) in a room that is about 75 degrees or so. The thicker stone does hold heat well. It just takes a little while for it to come up to temp. It seems to be warm enough since my geckos only hide in the warm hide at night.

Will

 

[Mel&Keith]

Keep in mind that your hand might be just as warm as your goal temperature. If your body temp is 98F and the tile is 92F it will feel a little cool. Try placing probe thermometers around the tank to get a really accurate reading then go from there.

 

[acpart]

Measure the heat with a digital thermometer with probe, as mentioned above. If it's too hot, get a thermostat or rheostat. If it's not hot enough, tape a sheet of aluminum foil below the UTH so the UTH is sandwiched between the bottom of the tank and the foil.

ALiza

 

[ncbeast]

When using a digital probe how is it placed on the floor to get the temp? Last night I placed the probe under the moist hide so it would press it to the floor, still only got to 90 over night and just have the floor lined with brown paper?

 

[Dog Shrink]

For defieldsfamily it does take a couple days for ceramic tile to get to temps considering that they will disperse the heat over a broader area. Ths is why I went with vinyl tiles. MAkes mroe of a hot Spot than a hot area. The heat doesn't dissipate as much as it doesin natural stone products such as ceramics or real stone. The benefit of real stone and ceramic tho is that it will hold heat longer and provide a larger warm area for your leo but you may need a larger UTH to make up for that dispersment.

For NCBeast. I used a piece of electrical tape to hold my probe in place directly over the UTH. The way the probe is designed the tape fits perfectly over the collar area right behind the end of the probe and prevents it from lifting off the floor giving a very accurate reading.

 

[BalloonzForU]

Keep in mind that your hand might be just as warm as your goal temperature. If your body temp is 98F and the tile is 92F it will feel a little cool. Try placing probe thermometers around the tank to get a really accurate reading then go from there.

:main_thumbsup:

 

[Daedric1]

The UTH will conduct heat better through another material under the tile usually. For instance, a layer of sand (half an inch or so) placed underneath the tile may absorb and hold the heat much better than if you just place the tile straight on the glass. Some tile won't hold enough heat on it's own (thus the heat escapes into the air) and cannot reach the desired temperature. Sand and the tile together can function as a system that better conducts and traps heat, allowing the temperatures to rise.

Sometimes tile isn't completely level on the bottom (depending on what you use), so you end up heating air bubbles instead of the tile. Sand can fill in those gaps. If it's relatively heavy tile, you also avoid scratching or cracking the glass with sand underneath.

Also, different types of tile conduct heat differently. Slate for instance is very good at this.

 

[ncbeast]

The UTH will conduct heat better through another material under the tile usually. For instance, a layer of sand (half an inch or so) placed underneath the tile may absorb and hold the heat much better than if you just place the tile straight on the glass. Some tile won't hold enough heat on it's own (thus the heat escapes into the air) and cannot reach the desired temperature. Sand and the tile together can function as a system that better conducts and traps heat, allowing the temperatures to rise.

Sometimes tile isn't completely level on the bottom (depending on what you use), so you end up heating air bubbles instead of the tile. Sand can fill in those gaps. If it's relatively heavy tile, you also avoid scratching or cracking the glass with sand underneath.

Also, different types of tile conduct heat differently. Slate for instance is very good at this.

That is a great idea and will keep that in mind when we build our next tank coming up. Does it mater what kind of sand? Can I just use play sand under the tile and for the joints between the tiles? Also would you say the slate would be the best to use over any of the ceramic?

 

[Dog Shrink]

The UTH will conduct heat better through another material under the tile usually. For instance, a layer of sand (half an inch or so) placed underneath the tile may absorb and hold the heat much better than if you just place the tile straight on the glass. Some tile won't hold enough heat on it's own (thus the heat escapes into the air) and cannot reach the desired temperature. Sand and the tile together can function as a system that better conducts and traps heat, allowing the temperatures to rise.

Sometimes tile isn't completely level on the bottom (depending on what you use), so you end up heating air bubbles instead of the tile. Sand can fill in those gaps. If it's relatively heavy tile, you also avoid scratching or cracking the glass with sand underneath.

Also, different types of tile conduct heat differently. Slate for instance is very good at this.

I just addressed this in another threat but I'll go into it a bit here. Ceramic and porcelain tiles are very porous yet highly durable tiles that do not hold heat well (the air pocket thing mentioned) where as real stone tiles such as slate or marble will take heat and hold it but it will also dissipate it thru the entire tile surface. If you don't like the idea of using a sand base I would recommend a marble tile. They're nice and flat with out the inconsistancies slate may have but if it's manufacturerd slate you should have a flat side for proper installation and shouldn't need a sand bed to balance it out. You can also check out people that make granite counter tops and see if they have scrap pieces they'd be willing to sell you at an off price to use. Also a natural stone with a flat surface for installation.

 

[Daedric1]

That is a great idea and will keep that in mind when we build our next tank coming up. Does it mater what kind of sand? Can I just use play sand under the tile and for the joints between the tiles? Also would you say the slate would be the best to use over any of the ceramic?

Any type of sand would probably work, including play sand. If you're using this though, make sure to disinfect it (I know there's some articles on here about doing this so you can search for them). I can't say that it would be better than any ceramic, but probably better than the vast majority of them. It's also completely natural (well, after metamorphosis from shale).

I just addressed this in another threat but I'll go into it a bit here. Ceramic and porcelain tiles are very porous yet highly durable tiles that do not hold heat well (the air pocket thing mentioned) where as real stone tiles such as slate or marble will take heat and hold it but it will also dissipate it thru the entire tile surface. If you don't like the idea of using a sand base I would recommend a marble tile. They're nice and flat with out the inconsistancies slate may have but if it's manufacturerd slate you should have a flat side for proper installation and shouldn't need a sand bed to balance it out. You can also check out people that make granite counter tops and see if they have scrap pieces they'd be willing to sell you at an off price to use. Also a natural stone with a flat surface for installation.

When I was first looking at tile for my tanks (with primarily slate in mind), I thought about using granite or marble as well. I was concerned however that most (well, all of them that I'd seen) of these types of tile had smooth, polished surfaces. I thought that it might be difficult for the leo to walk on, as I recalled feeding my leos one time in a seperate tank with nothing on the floor, just bare glass. Though it was funny watching them try to catch food, it was also kind of sad because it was easy to tell they were having difficulty walking, chasing, and attacking their prey. Because of that, I opted for a tile with a rougher surface texture, and went with slate.

What is your experience with your marble tile? Is it the smooth type or does it have a rougher, unpolished surface? I haven't really seen this but maybe it is available.

 

[Dog Shrink]

You can go to the people that make rock countertops and get them unfinished unpolished and even unsanded to make an irregular surface. It all depends on how you intend to use it and at which stage of the processing you want to stop. It all starts out as natural rock somewhere along the line and how far you decide to process it is up to you.

 

[ncbeast]

I added about a 1/4" of sand, slate tiles and raised the tank 1" to get air flow to the ZooMed 8 watt UTH and the temp will not rise above 84 during the day and 80 at night. I think maybe since the previous owner never used the feet that came with the UTH to provide air flow, the UTH maybe damaged or may be defective to start with. Going to go buy another one today and then return this one since it does have a 1 year warranty.