Thermostat

[Judah'sHuman]

Hi~
I am thinking that I am going to need a thermostat for the winter months here in Seattle. I only have a 55 gallon tank and a 250 Exoterra Cermaic Heater, I thought this would be way too hot but I had tried a 150 watt and it would only get 75 under the heater so had to change that situation right away. The viv is 18" high and Im cosidering making a new custom viv that is longer and wider but a few inches shorter on the heigth. Currently temps are pretty good about what I want them to be. When It gets colder however, it is going to be not good. Do the thermostates make the heater get hotter that what it is currently? Right under the heater it is only 96 (which is about the center of the tank and under the merc bulb it is 96-105 (depending on where you are in the light) Judah seems to reallt liek to hang out where it is only 96-98 in the baskign spot. I am sure that I will have troubles with consistant temps once winter comes as I have already had a times that it droped when it the weather got bad. So unless the Thermostates make it burn hotter (rather than just shutting it on and off periodicly) I dont know what im going do.

Also I have the heater in a wire ceramic fixture, can I put it into a dome ceramic fixture to direct some of the heat into the tank rather than going up into the air above the tank. I think this is why it is getting alot of heat loss. I am consitering moving the tank upstairs because it is warmer up here. I have a du level house and my room, which is in the daylight basment is where I have the Viv, it gets down to about 60-65 durring winter. Last winter i didnt have any trouble keeping it warm in the tank. I had just gotten Judah and his whole viv set up from a previous owner, and the heater was one of those really bad red bulb heat lamps. I finally changed it in Feb. to the Ceramic set up. Anywho any suggestions????

 

[Catalyst]

The thermostat can't make a bulb run hotter than it already is, your bulb is working at its peak capacity. A thermostat works by turning the bulb on and off (I beleive) in order to keep the tank temperature within set limits.

During the day you should be using something that puts off bright clear light as your heat source - dragons generally thrive best this way since it more closely mimics their natural environment. You can use a regular lightbulb or a halogen flood light as your heat source. I prefer the halogen flood lights because they put out more heat per watt (i.e. it'll be warmer with a 100w halogen flood than a 100w regular bulb). I use halogen floods over my 75g tank and they work great for me. I have a 50w, a 75w and a 100w that I switch out as the weather changes. I generally need one bulb over the cool side of the tank to keep the temps up there and then a stronger bulb over my basking spot. Then you can save your ceramic heat emitter for night time use when it drops below.

As far as I know, ceramic heat emitters can go into the same dome light fixtures as most other types of heat light.

 

[diamc]

What type of thermometer are you using to check the temps? A 250 watt CHE seems like a lot for a 55 gallon tank. I have one that size and use a 100 watt T-Rex mercury vapor bulb and get a basking temp of 106. In the winter, I also use a 25 to 40 watt household lightbulb to keep the cool side at 79 to 80.

It is suggested to use a ceramic deep dome fixture to hold the CHE's because they throw off lots of heat but that way you could also place the fixture right on top of the screen so that the heat doesn't escape.

Please fill us in on the thermometer you're using now because it does seem like the temps should be much hotter than the reading you're getting now.

 

[Judah'sHuman]

I have a digital thermo with a probe. I also have a digital kind that you can use in your house. Its just a little plastic one that I move around the tank, and it always reads the same as the other one so I know it is accurate as well. Well I think the problem is I have a very large room with like a 12' ceiling. So all the heat is going up and the room is only about 60-65 durring the winter. I do have a Zoo med heat basking bulb that I no longer use, so I can use that durring the day rather than the Ceramic heater then? His basking area on one end has a 125 watt Merc Solor Glo then right next to that is the ceramic heater. So can I use the Mer bulb and the other basking bulb at the same time then, it wont be too much?

The rest of the Viv is covered with wood to hold in heat (the basking area has a small screen). I also put just a 50 watt bulb at the cool end of the tank that rests inside in the corner where he can get into to it or anything. I would put a pic of the tank on here but I havent figured out how to do that. I know this seems crazy to me too! It seems like it is way too much but like I say the only thing I can think is the high celing and cool room.

But it is ok to use the Ceramic heater in a deep dome 250watt fixture then? I have the merc bulb in a deep dome right now I could just switch them and put the merc in the wire fix, if you think it's ok to have the ceramic in the dome.

Just as an experiment today I sorta wraped the the wire Fixture cage with a bit of foil, but for soem reason the heat must of sarted to build up around the top and it started smelling like buring. YIKES! so I vetoed that right away. But did lossly drape the foil over the top of the clamp sticking streight up, and that seemed to hold the heat down to th top of the viv but not where I want it. That is why I wonder if I put it in a dome to reflect the heat dowward if it would catch the fixture on fire or something. BTW I had to send my first heat set up back because the brass tab in the fixture that the blubs connects to, was not makign a good connection because it pushed in, so it was arching and causing it to stop working periodicly and even blew a fuse once. I had to keep screwing it back in because it would wiggle lose and turn off. One day I finally took the bulb out and saw that it has "Spark damage inside" OMG I coudl have burned the house down. Thankfully the place I bought it from was really cool and sent me a new set up right away. It had melted the top of the bulb into nothing. Scary! :shock: It is amazing to me that I am having so many problems. :roll:

 

[Judah'sHuman]

Here we go I didnt know we could use HTML from Photobuck on here but this is what it look like

hope this one works. You can see the Two fixtures on the top and the wood cover and the reflection of the Household blub on the other end (that is an ordinary household low energy coil bulb Not a UVB or anything bad) The viv is 18" high 48" long

 

[Judah'sHuman]

Hello!

Im changing the subject on this one because now I know about the thermostat it not going to help. No one is replying otherwise but I still have some questions