Has anyone tried under-tank heaters designed for reptiles?

E

exospex

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Nov 29, 2006
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Does anyone know if they will work? There is no internal thermostat in them, and the kind that are designed to run them, are not submersible. I know a thermostat is not necessarily needed when using them for reptiles. I want to heat the substrate for plants, but don't want the heater ribbon in the substrate. Any comments are greatly appreciated.
 
My thought is what will the weight of the tank (approx 100 lbs for a 10 gallon tank) do to the pad, and also the unevenness of the pad may stress the glass bottom of said tank.....
 
people do use them, but they're only recommended for small tanks 1-5 gallons.
 
RedSea makes cable heaters(submersible) 40 watt used to heat the substrate.

the large one root therm 400 I believe is for 100 gallon the root therm 160 is for tanks up to 40 gallons. these are not intended to replace the heater but just designed to heat the substrate.
 
i wouldnt use one of those, except for a very small tank, perhaps 10 gallons and under, and even then thats pushing it.

a 20 gallon as a reptile habiat (lizzard, like a gecko) weighs about 40lbs i want to say, but when you put 20 gallons of water in a 20 gallon tank, it wieghs around 200lbs, a huge difference. compressing the pad that much might make it start a fire
 
Do not use the pad unless its made for water tanks. I REPEAT DONT . Unless you want the glass to crack or worse.
 
aardvark1 said:
My thought is what will the weight of the tank (approx 100 lbs for a 10 gallon tank) do to the pad, and also the unevenness of the pad may stress the glass bottom of said tank.....
Click to expand...

Unless you have a frameless tank the bottom glass doesn't rest on the stand. In tanks with a plastic upper and lower frame the bottom glass is resting on the frame, a half inch to an inch above the stand.

I've used the small reptile pads with no detriment to the tank or inhabitants in lieu of cables for substrate heating. I don't any more.

Mark
 
wesleydnunder said:
Unless you have a frameless tank the bottom glass doesn't rest on the stand. In tanks with a plastic upper and lower frame the bottom glass is resting on the frame, a half inch to an inch above the stand.

I've used the small reptile pads with no detriment to the tank or inhabitants in lieu of cables for substrate heating. I don't any more.

Mark
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I do not have a frameless tank. That's why I thought of it. Thanks for the info, Mark.
 
jm1212 said:
i wouldnt use one of those, except for a very small tank, perhaps 10 gallons and under, and even then thats pushing it.

a 20 gallon as a reptile habiat (lizzard, like a gecko) weighs about 40lbs i want to say, but when you put 20 gallons of water in a 20 gallon tank, it wieghs around 200lbs, a huge difference. compressing the pad that much might make it start a fire
Click to expand...

Well a fire would accomplish heating the substrate, wouldnt it?
:devil:
 
Oh come on. Do we really need to be this harsh? no we dont. This is friendly forum. NO question is a stupid one.
 
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