Red nocturnal lamp

[Dan0263]

Is a 50w red nocturnal lamp enough to heat my viv, it's 20"x12"x12" W.D.H. I have it above the viv in a ZM twin dome, which is off centre and the temp sensor is in the middle approx 1-1 1/2" off the substrate. The temp has.not gone above 73 yet, which although is not directly under the hest, does seem to cool...

[monster]

Hey, that 50 should be able do it. What is the temp under the lamp? A good way to help retain heat is put some aluminum foil over around half the top. And ya even though its the cool end that's a little cold. Or you will have to play with your placement of your domes till it gets abit warmer on that end. I would put the probe under the lamp though or if you want to know what the middle is all the time to get another thermometer so you have 2. You want to really watch how hot its getting in the warm end because you don't want to dry him out.

[Dan0263]

Cory, can I just double check - the stat should be approx 1" off the substrate under the light NOT the heat lamp correct? I have added foil to mesh lid and to a mesh vent on the side at the Red lamp end, but the temp wasn't improving much.

[monster]

Ya it would be the probe you want a inch off the ground under the light, not the actual heat source. I take it your using a exoterra enclosure or something similar? if you want the end that was 73f to go up you would want to cover that end not the warm end. This way it will trap some of the heat in that end instead of just going up into the air and it should warm it up abit. The warm end with the red bulb should be able to get up to 80's.

[jasonm96]

What temps your house dan? I would try upping to the 60W round type bulb and get a temperature reading directly underneath the bulb, just slightly raise the probe above the substrate but try less than an inch. Once your warm end is where it needs to be at 26C-29C then move the probe to the cool end and make sure it's no cooler than 22C there. You won't need any more than 60W for a 10-gallon, that's for sure.

[Dan0263]

I'm getting a sore head so I've set the stat to 82 during the day 8am-8pm, then down to 75 at night 8pm-8am. So it's 8-30am here just now and the probe is approx 1" off the substrate under where the light is. The temp is 72, which is obviously way off the 82 I've set. It just does not want to rise for some reason. If I hold the sensor 1" approx under the mesh lid below the red light the temp rises quite quickly as you'd expect and the lamps dims at 82 as it's setup to do. I've put the sensor back to its original position and the temp is dropping back down.
My concern is that the daytime temp isn't getting high enough and that I may dry out the tank too much. I've got a stat on full output trying to heat upto a temp that it's never going to reach. It seems like the heat isn't reaching deep enough....