getting chilly U.T.H. ok? for whites

[dadmccabe]

i need a little help. My WTF viv has been doing great all summer... now its getting chilly at night and my house is old and drafty (all rooms

we have not fired up the boiler yet. Is it safe to use a under tank heater. i have a exoterra 18x18x24 ..false bottom (eggcrate) sphagnum moss / abg/ live plants and corkbark floor/background (not siliconed to glass - the frog DOES hide back there sometimes)

I read mixed things re: UTH's as well as plug in heaters (getting too hot) colored bulbs not being good for the frogs natural day/night cycles...


i have to act fast

[Shade38]

From what I understand you can't use a UTH on the bottom with a false bottom. The standing water and the heat pad don't mix-- the glass may break. You can use a UTH on the side of the tank, making sure the side is up against a wall or some surface that can "bounce back" the heat to the tank. I don't know about other brands but the ZooMed UTH I use is weak weak weak. Barely raises the temp 8-10 degrees but it's still necessary (my house is very cold too.) Also I use a larger size than ZooMed recommends.

I use a red heat lamp at night for my Red Eyes. They don't seem to mind it because there are plants that provide dark/shady areas for them to hide if they want to. It's not an infrared expensive bulb, it's just a plain old hardware store red heat bulb that is positioned above the tank on a dimmer switch. You definitely need the dimmer and to put the heat bulb a distance away from the tank so the heat doesn't get out of control.

Do you have any night light at all right now? Like a red or green party bulb lying around your house? Could hold you over until you find what you need.

Do you have a space heater you could use? Just to heat that small area of the house?

Also how cold is it getting? I think 65 is the minimum temperature for White's but I have also read 68 from some sources. Good luck and I hope you work it out.

[BeckyM]

UTH's suck. I too have a Zoomed and I LOATHE mine. It just warms up the air on the outside of the tank. Yep, you read me right: THE OUT SIDE. And the directions were all "UNDER tank heater! Place on side of the tank!"

I'd try either A: heating up the room some other way or B: investing in a heat lamp.

[HerpDerp]

I have a 10 gallon tank and TWO under tank heaters rated for a 10 gallon plus a low watt incandescent bulb and all that together raises the temp about 12 degrees warmer than room temp. Granted I think one of my heaters is slightly damaged but still warms up. These things just don't work well. I've decided to research alternatives for my new terrarium I'm getting this weekend (same size as yours). I can let you know what I come up with.

EDIT: Okay so I've done some searching online and it seems like a ceramic heat emitter is a good idea. It doesn't give off any light, just heat. It needs to be used with a lamp with a ceramic socket though. And a dimmer is definitely recommended. Fluckers sells a clamp lamp with a dimmer built in. The one thing I can't seem to figure out is what wattage would work with an exo-terra 18x18x24. Maybe someone else has some insight in that?

[deranged chipmunk]

If you can access underneath the false bottom, put good quality (eheim,fluval) adjustable aquarium heater suction cupped to the bottom. As long as the water level is above the heater, you're good. It will heat the water and work like your radiators, heating the air in the tank. Just don't skimp on the heater
. Like i said, you want it to be adjustable, those preset heaters are garbage and burn out quickly. Otherwise, you can use a heat emitter as long as the top isn't glass, or relocate the enclosure to a warmer, upper floor of you home for the winter. All my tanks, both planted and frog, run aquarium heaters in them since they are in an unfinished basement with no heat and i have yet to have a problem. It was cold here last night. My basement was 60 degrees this morning, but my white's tank was 81.2 degrees/82% humidity. Hope that helps