Tips for heating

[aroeder1]

Hello. I am working on building a large tank with plywood. I know that the heat source will need to be inside the tank and I was wondering how to do that in a safe way so it isnt a fire hazard. I was thinking about putting a radiant heat panel on the top of the enclosure so it is out of the way of the foam background Im planning on doing. Do i need to put something between the wood and the panel? Or would something like heat tape be better to use? I am planning on doing a bioactive type of substrate so if I put it on the bottom of the enclosure could it get sectioned off from the rest of the substrate and I surround it with rocks, drift wood etc.? Also what brands of thermostats do you all recommend?

 

[CooperDragon]

You might consider installing a ceramic socket fixture. Then you could put a heat projector (Arcadia and MegaRay make these) in the socket and put that on a dimmer or thermostat to kick in as needed. Those don't get nearly as hot to the touch as a ceramic heat emitter and would pose less fire risk while still providing plenty of extra heat. There are several good thermostats out there. I use a Herpstat and it works well. Microclimate makes nice ones too. It comes down to what you want to do with it. Do you need a dimming thermostat for a basking light, do you need an on/off or pulse thermostat just to control a heat projector overnight or as supplemental heat?