Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay so after seeing one of the setups here I am going to build one. I plan on making basically a box with plexiglass on the front and screen on the top. I plan on using plaster on the bottom as described in another post. My question is how can I heat this? With the bottom being would I don't think attaching a heater would be good. I know I can use a heat source from above but I know that Leo's also want some belly heat. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Oh by the way the tank will have roughly the same dimensions as a 50 gallon tank.

Anyone have any advise to offer? This is the only thing keeping me from starting because I want to make sure I do it right.

I use a few UTH's under the tank, and the plaster conducts heat beautifully (I use plaster disks to conduct heat evenly in ovens when I bake clays - I'm a sculptor) Plaster is known for it's ability to conduct and diffuse heat well, so it's actually better than just sticking the UTH on a glass bottomed tank.

I also embedded a couple of heat rocks in the plaster. These rocks are tested and on a dimmer switch. There is a thick covering of plaster over them to diffuse the heat, and I only plan to use them in the winter if my house gets cool. The under tank heaters are doing a great job alone right now.

How did you attach the UTH to your setup? From the pictures it looks as though your cage has a wooden bottom. Did you put the UTH on inside and just plaster over them?

Thanks for the reply.
Randy

I attached the uth to glass first. (one is attached to a piece of glass used to put under a potted plant and the other is on a glass from a picture fram. I put the rubber feet on the bottom and slid them into place under the tank. I don't think it would have been a problem to just stick them onto the wood, since the wood can take the heat very well, I just liked being able to easily move them to adjust the gradients and to make replacement simple. I wouldn't pour wet plaster over them directly, but you could probably make some sort of protective sleeve or case first and then go ahead and use the plaster on top of that. You would need to consider leaving air space around it somehow to allow for expansion and heat build-up.

AAAHH, Okay that makes sense now. I was actually thinking of making one end out of glass on the bottom but I like that method alot better. I just finished up the box and have found out two things.
1. My measruing sucks.
2. I really suck even more at cutting a straight line. After getting everything cut and lining it up on one end it was 16 inches and on the other 15. Don't ask. Anyways I now consider this a trial setup and if it works will go to someone that can actually cut and make a new enclosure.

Randy

Make it easy on yourself and just find some kind of display cabinet or entertainment unit and start with that. You can get them cheap or free from thrift shops, craigslist, freecycle, goodwill, yard sales, etc...

Okay I have the plaster in place and will be applying the paint tomorrow. It doesn't look anything close to being as good as yours but I am learning. I will use this setup for a while til I can really sit down and really get one together. I'll post some pictures first chance I get. Also to anyone out there that is curious about doing this it's real simple. Anyways just wanted to post a quick message now back to work.

Randy

Do you mean the bottom of the tank is made of "wood"? I was confused if you are concerned about the wood or the plaster.

I can't imagine that wood conducts heat well, and it doesn't seem safe to me to put a heating pad on wood especially if it has varnish or something on it. I don't know for sure though...
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-Kristin