Number of posts : 22 Age : 37 Location : arkansas Registration date : 2012-03-24
Subject: heating questions 5/9/2012, 6:41 am
Ok well I have had a female emperor for going on 6 months now. The guy at pet co told me to get a under tank heater for a 10 gallon tank. its like 8 by 6in. It keeps my tank at 70 degrees. Well I was wondering if I should maybe get one for like a 30 to 50 gallon tank to warm it up to the proper 75 to 85 degree temp. I'm not sure what to do because I can't find a decent heat lamp set up for on top of a 10 gallon tank and also I don't really feel comfortable leaving a lamp on when I'm at work. So for now I have been using the current heat pad with a small portable heater to keep it at the right temp. Does anyone have any suggestions??
DolbyR Leiurus
Number of posts : 2097 Age : 42 Location : facebook.com/ScorpionArchives Registration date : 2011-01-03
Subject: Re: heating questions 5/9/2012, 7:37 am
An infrared bulb is our best bet. IR bulbs are not hard to find, and you can use a clip-on desk lamp as fixture.
But if you must use a heatpad, make sure it's on the side of the tank. A better choice to commercial heatpads is heat-tape/Flexwatt, it's much cheaper and usually heats better than the pads you get from pet stores.
steven555 Pandinus
Number of posts : 22 Age : 37 Location : arkansas Registration date : 2012-03-24
Subject: Re: heating questions 5/9/2012, 8:13 am
Ok that sounds cool, Im going to try the flexwatt set up and see how that works for me. thanks dolby.
shebeen Tityus
Number of posts : 507 Age : 64 Location : Mountain View, Calif. Registration date : 2011-05-15
Subject: Re: heating questions 5/9/2012, 11:40 am
+1 on the IR lamp.
The issue is conductive heat vs. radiant heat. Heat pads/tape only heat the glass to which they are attached; little heat actually makes it into the tank. An IR lamp (or ceramic heat element) heats both the air and the surfaces under the lamp and is a much more effective way of getting heat into your enclosure.
Flukers makes a nice 75W dimmable clamp lamp that you can get at most LPS (Petco, Petsmart) for about $15. I use this lamp for both my Emperor and Haddy tanks.
Number of posts : 22 Age : 37 Location : arkansas Registration date : 2012-03-24
Subject: Re: heating questions 5/9/2012, 12:33 pm
Yeah that makes a lot of sense. Im gonna definitely check the link out.
Scorpion19981000 Administrator
Number of posts : 1895 Age : 26 Location : Cortland, New York Registration date : 2011-07-03
Subject: Re: heating questions 5/9/2012, 4:14 pm
DolbyR wrote:
But if you must use a heatpad, make sure it's on the side of the tank. A better choice to commercial heatpads is heat-tape/Flexwatt, it's much cheaper and usually heats better than the pads you get from pet stores.
+1.
steven555 Pandinus
Number of posts : 22 Age : 37 Location : arkansas Registration date : 2012-03-24
Subject: Re: heating questions 5/14/2012, 8:26 am
yeah well i decided to go with a 50 watt ir light, and its been keeping my tank at 85. Thanks for the advice everyone
