trouble with thermostat/heat

[cavey1892]

Hi, ave just bought a new thermostat and heatl lamp. Am having trouble with getting the temp to its requrid temp. My thermostat is a B1 microclimate dimmer and ave got a Elstien 250w lamp. Ave got the probe in the cold end but its bot going over 90f. and both ends are same temps aswell.

can any 1 help..

 

[JeffSimpson]

Hi, ave just bought a new thermostat and heatl lamp. Am having trouble with getting the temp to its requrid temp. My thermostat is a B1 microclimate dimmer and ave got a Elstien 250w lamp. Ave got the probe in the cold end but its bot going over 90f. and both ends are same temps aswell.

can any 1 help..

It's hard to tell from your description what exactly is going on. When you say the probe is at the "cold end" and it's not going over "90F", that's actually OK, it could even be a bit cooler.

What's important is the measurement of the basking spot... where are you at with that?

 

[cavey1892]

hi, soz about explanations lol :study:
The cold end is at 90F. Ave got the basking up2 95Fsh. Am stuggling to get the basking spot up plus keep down the cool end. Ave got the probe abt 3/4 away along my viv,near the cool end.Sticking to back of viv.

Wherewould u place a probe in vi ? nearer the sand or up high? sticking to back of viv?

Thanks for help,

 

[Frito]

i'm going to wager that your not placing a probe temp at the basking spot as you should and if you did this or got a temp gun you would discover you basking spot is far too hot because even in a small tank 90F on the cool end is extremely hard to achieve unless the room temperature is well over 75F and in that event you basking lamp is more than likely getting that spot well over 110F

in my experience with a room temperature of 70-75F and ambient room temps have a BIG impact on cage temps, a basking spot of anywhere from 95-105F directly measured has always resulted in a cool end of the tank/cage being around 80F. the exception would be in a very small tank like a 10-20G tank, if that is what your using then upgrade to at least a 40G breeder because sooner or later you will need to do so anyways and in the long run it will make your life easier (and your wallet)

 

[cavey1892]

Havent got a temp gun or a probe to measure temps with. Only got 2 dial thermometers and a strip thermometer in viv. The tank am using is ( 48" long - 18" wide - 20" high ) Hes 3 years old aswell, only had him since october tho. A need to get temp probe or gun. When a come in from work henrik usally in the cool end just lying their? looks like hes baked?

Should aye turn my temps down?? not sure wot to do

 

[Frito]

yeah i would turn the temp down, dial temps are inaccurate and only tell you what the ambient temp is in that part of the cage not directly at a basking spot.

what you should do is get two temp gauges, one that has a probe so you can place the probe directly on the basking spot to monitor its temperature accurately and another digital regular temp gauge with a humidity gauge on the other end of the cage to track ambient temps.

zilla makes a cheap digital probe temp that petsmart and petco both sell for around 10 dollars, i have 3 of them and they work great. flukers makes a nice digital ambient temp gauge as well but its price in chain stores something like 25-30 bucks but i got lucky and one of my smaller local feed stores has them for 15 dollars so i bought a handful

a lot of people on here buy digital cooking thermometers from walmart etc. as well.

 

[cavey1892]

ok ave turned the temps down. so all look on net for probe thermometer and digital ambient temp gauge. Would a temp gun be ok? Am not from the US. am from scotland so all need to look on the net for the items.

 

[Frito]

yeah temp guns are great for measuring the basking spot temperature

 

[cavey1892]

So all a need is temp gun and a probe thermometer?

 

[Frito]

both is always nice but one or another will work, you just need to be able to accurately measure what the hot point of the basking spot is that's it, measuring what the ambient temp of the hot end of the tank is will never be anywhere near as hot as directly under the heat bulb

 

[cavey1892]

ok ave been looking on the net. A found a cheap probe thermostat on 888reptiles.co.uk ( Eti Reptile Digital Thermometer ) Would this one do? am ganwi buy a gun aswell.

thanks for the help.... :lol:

 

[Frito]

if its the same one i found by searching for it then yep that will work it's got a probe so its good

 

[cavey1892]

cooshty when i comes al try it and see what the temps are. Would a just put the probe under the basking spot on sand?

thanks for help :mrgreen:

 

[Frito]

yeah you want it on the basking spot but make sure it does not get buried in the sand

 

[cavey1892]

ok no probs. How long you keep in tank for?? 30 mins? It got deliveryed today but a mist it. Going to pick it up the morn. So al no the right temps :mrgreen: