tile/slate and UTH

[cuomop]

i currently have repticarpet and have thought about switching to tile/slate and i have a couple of questions.

1. how long/how effective will a 10gal zoomed uth heat tiles/slate??
2. what about in the winter when its 68 in my house and the cold side have surface temps of roomtemp???
3. is it right that 2 12x12 fit in a 10 gal???

 

[acpart]

i currently have repticarpet and have thought about switching to tile/slate and i have a couple of questions.

1. how long/how effective will a 10gal zoomed uth heat tiles/slate??
2. what about in the winter when its 68 in my house and the cold side have surface temps of roomtemp???
3. is it right that 2 12x12 fit in a 10 gal???

1. The tiles/slate hold and distribute heat very well
2. I have never had a problem with this. If it's too cold for the geckos they'll stay on the hot side
3. A 10 gal. floor space is 10"x20" so 12x12 will not fit. In addition there are 2 widths of 10 gallon tanks. One brand is about 1/4" narrower than the other. A tile that is sold as 10" long, is actually abouat 9 3/4" long (just like 2x4's in lumber are really 1 1/2"x3 1/4"). If you have a 10 gallon tank who's outside dimension is really 10" or more, then you can floor it with six 3"x10" tiles. If the outside dimension is less than 10", you cannot use a tile that's labeled as 10". This has become a problem for me because Home Depot stopped carrying their 10" tiles. They had 3x10 and 13x10 before.

I recommend that you see if you can find a Home Depot or Loews that will cut tile and plan to get tiles to fit a floor space 1" less than your possible floor space: 9"x19". That way, if you're a bit off on the measurement the tiles will still fit and if there's a narrow untiled part at the edge it really doesn't matter.

Aliza