Heat Pad for 29G Vertical

[Sarosaurus]

Hello hello!

So, I have finally gone and put my 29G vertical WTF tank together. After fretting about the light, I think the fixture and the bulb that I have will work for the plants that I have at the bottom. If not, I will just get some leaf litter and cover the bottom so I don't have to worry about it. Hehe.

My main concern is the heating of this new tank. Since it is going to be incorporated into a shelving unit that I am going to be putting together, I cannot use a regular heat lamp for it. Not to mention that the top panel is a piece of the frosted acrylic and will melt. My plan is to do a heat mat, but I am wondering which one I should use. I have the Exo Terra Heat Wave mats available to me at the pet store that I work at.

Question is..should I use the Tropical one? Or the Desert one?

The spot that I am thinking of putting it has about an inch and a half (maybe a little more?) to heat through. I dropped my thermometer into the tank to get a temperature reading while there was just my full spectrum bulb on and it was 70-71 degrees (this was without a heater on in my room), so essentially it only needs to heat the tank another 10 or so degrees? When I woke up and looked at the temp this morning, it was sitting at 68 almost 69 degrees.

[Mentat]

Hello Sarah ! Heat mats are inefficient when heating frog tanks. Ten degrees might not sound like much; but that might be out of the range of heat mats capabilities.

If the Desert pad is of higher wattage would try that one first. Not sure I understand clearly; but are you stating your enclosure wall is 1.5 in. thick?

[Sarosaurus]

So sorry about disappearing! Life got in the way! :P

The tank wall is about 1 to 1.5" thick because of the Great Stuff foam that I used to do my tank background. I was thinking that I don't really need to heat it 10 degrees. I know my frogs don't seem to like it above 75 degrees, but I think my heat mat might work now that I have thought about it some more. Plus, my room seems to stay fairly warm when I keep it closed off from the rest of the house.

So, I am editing my question to:
Which brand of heat mat should I use? What are your experiences with said heat mats?