Under tank heater, or overhead heating light?

which one is better for hermies?

 

Some use just the UTH or Lights, others use them both. It's a personal choice as well as climate one. I use just lights.

 

I have only UTHs but if I were going to use a light, is there a certain kind of bulb I need to use and do I have it on all the time?

 

Reptile bulbs and hood. Ebay tends to have some that aren't as expensive as stores. The wattage depends on the size of the tank and the current temp it is in there now. For instance, I got a 60g tank. My hood has a 50 watt dayglo and a 75 moonglo. I also run a reptisun 2.0. During the day I have the day lights on. At night I put the moonglow on. The wattage goes down in the summer. I had a 40watt until recently.

 

I have a 40 gal. It needs to be about 80. Its 80 now, but I heated up the whole room to 80. Im not gunna use the UTH because I cant see it and Im always lifting up the tank to see if its still working. I would rather get a heater from the store because if it isnt what I want then I can just take it back. I dont mind paying a bit more. So with my 40 gal, what wattage do you think I need?

 

It also depends on the climate where you live and how cold it gets in the winter. Here in MD it gets pretty chilly and I use both.

 

I live in New Mexico. and it gets kinda cold here, but I usualy have it about 70 in my room. Is there a thing like a fish tank heater that has a thermomotor in it and when its below how hot you want it to be, it turns on, but after it reaches that temp it goes off?

 

well, you really dont want the UTH heating, cooling and then heating again. with UTHs, once they're on they need to be left on until it gets warm out and then when you turn it off leave it off. the UTHs heat to one temp and that's it, no dial for temp control or on/off switches. i leave mine on all winter and then when spring comes and it gets warm it gets turned off for the summer. when it starts to cool again though, i do a deep clean BEFORE i turn it back on to ensure that no crabs have decided to take up home right over it because if they are molting and have buried right on top of it they will not be able to get away when it heats up and they'll die. the idea for a uth is that it warms the substrate from the bottom up but along with that the glass gets very hot over top of it. luckily the crabs are smart enough not to cook themselves by getting all the way down to the glass directly over it, they usually bury along the edges.

 

Well I was talking about a light. Im just really confused about the wattage.

 

ohhhhh, sorry jesyca, my bad.

your tank is a 40? ok, i'm using a 60 watt day-glo during the day right now but i need to up it to about a 75W for the winter. the tank is still a little cooler than i'd like to be. i'm currently using a 75W moon-glo (or night-glo whichever it's called) and i also need to up that to about 100W. actually, in the summer months i might need to knock them back a little lower than 60/75. it really just depends on the temps in the tank and how high you're trying to get them; and most importantly, what the max wattage is for your hood too.

 

The guy at the store told me that a 75 watt would heat up the 40 gal to 80 just fine, so thats what I got. I got a moon-glo bulb and just a normal one. Im using the moon glo now. We'll see how it works out

 

Is the moon glo not as hot as the normal one? I hyave in the moon-glo, and its not heating it up as warm as Ide like it. Ill try puting in the normal one.

 

i don't think they do, but that is only my opinion. it seems to me though that the tank cools off at night when i only have the moon-glo on, but that's ok as long as it's not a huge drop in temp. on the beach the temps vary probably as much as 10 degrees between day and night. my tanks are usually around 76-80 during the day and 70-75 at night. like i said, i want to get a higher watt moon-glo though, i don't like it at 70 by the time i change the lights in the morning. especially on the first floor, it gets chilly down there at night.

 

Im also having a big problem keeping it humid. Ive tryed sponges, and spraying it down, but it wont work. What can I do?

 

Well what I did I have a UTH on the side and I taped foil around it to help the heat go into the tank more then I have a screen lid and I put plastic wrap on it to keep it humid but I think thats cause I have some kind of eco earth which I spray everyday to keep it humid! Hope this helps.