Side-mounted heat pads

[Darkhelmet]

After thinking about some of the advice I got here on my tomato frog setup, I'm probably going to redo my tank. Part of this is going to be changing my heat source. I don't like using my light source for heat, and I'd like a bit of a gradient for my frog to thermo-regulate, so I'm pretty sure a side-mounted heat pad is what I want. For reference, my tank is a 29 gallon (24"x15"x21") and I''d like to keep the temperature in 75-80 F. Current temperatures in the tank are low seventies. As of now, my light source is a white spiral cfl. If it matters, I'm going to be using ABG mix when the tank is redone, and I have a misting system.

I have several questions. First, does it matter where/how I orient the pad on the side of the tank (high low horizontal vertical etc)? I wouldn't want to mount the pad too high and not have the heat propagate to my frog, but I don't want it too low if my frog could get too close to it and maybe burn himself (not sure if this is possible). Does anyone have a preferred way of setting theirs up? Second, I'm considering putting a plated foam background in my tank. Would this obstruct the heat pad and render it ineffective? How might I deal with this? Lastly, what size heat pad would be recommended if I'm going with the zoomed uth's? I side-mounted a medium before, and I felt (maybe incorrectly) that it did a poor job of heating the tank during the winter. If I get the large pad and I'm using a thermostat, wouldn't this just give me extra capacity in the event I need it?

[Mentat]

Hello Kyle! The pad is mounted outside the tank so chance of frog getting burned by it are pretty nil. In regards to location a lower setting is preferable since heat rises. Placing insulating material (foam background) in front of heat pad glass location will greatly diminish it's already inefficient capability to heat an enclosure. You can use a larger pad with a thermostast to try and reach desired temps in Winter. Just remember that pads are inefficient sources of heat in frog tanks and if you splash water on a glass where pad is... the glass could shatter .