Tile: on glass with UTH - should something be between the two?

[Jennie]

I'm having issues with the hot spot of my tank. I had originally had 3/4 tile, 1/4th paper towel & my hot hide hit 94-96F (on paper towel) I've been reading on here that the tile shouldn't effect the amount of heat emitted. I filled the 1/4 so that its a complete tile floor and now my temps are reading 91-92F. I'm wondering, since the tile has the ridged bottom and doesn't set flat on the glass surface, if I should be laying something between the two...paper towel? a little sand? maybe some type of grip mat (assuming its safe to use with heat?)? Any information on this would be great!

Is been 3 hours since starting it up under the tile...maybe I just need to keep an eye on it a bit longer see if there is any change.

 

[acpart]

I just put the tile directly on the floor of the tank. I have found that it can actually take several days for the UTH to heat up all the way.

Aliza

 

[Jennie]

Thank you, I will just keep an eye on it for now.

I had actually switched from a small UTH to a much larger one, temps seemed to be the same though, I had swtiched just to get overall more heat coverage not so much more heat... BUT does size effect the amount of heat for that particular area? or are they all pretty much set for the same amount of heat. I can get one size bigger if it emits more heat for that one spot.

 

[msebar]

Make sure the thermostat is under the UTH and you have another temp probe monitoring the top temps. I have my thermostat set at 100 and the top of my tile is 91.5 to 93.5. Also make sure your tile is a bit small by 1/8 of an inch so it will sit flat and not sit on the silicone. This raises the tile and could cause you to raise the temps on the thermostat to get the same results.

 

[Jennie]

I don't have a thermostat going, but my temp probe is reading into the mid-high 90's now. I had ended up buying a larger UTH to cover more floor space as well.

 

[stager]

Puting sand under the tile will help evenly distribute heat, but then you may want to seal around tile to keep sand away from your gecko

 

[coker101]

I put a little sand between my slate tile and the glass...otherwise it would get too hot in my setup. I did not seal around the edges but I don't see it being a problem.