Zoo Med UTH

[jonathon1989]

I installed a UTH for my 10 gallon tank yesterday and haven't noticed much a difference besides the temperature staying around 75 degrees. One of the associates at the pet store who told me they previously owned hermit crabs, advised I should start with a UTH for a 1-5 galleon tank to make sure the hermit crabs aren't overheated.

Is 75 okay to be maintained all the time? Should I upgrade to a UTH for a 10 gallon tank and see what happens?

[Hermiesguardian]

Those zoo med heaters are pretty useless for what we need them for. You actually need a size that will cover the entire back of the tank from the top of the substrate (minimum 6") to the top of the tank. 75 deg is ok but they will be more active at 80 deg. A better brand of uth is an Ultratherm or Flukers. Can be purchased at beanfarm.com (they are having a sale now I think) and reptilebasic.com. But if you think you may be upgrading soon then wait and get the size you need for the larger tank. In the meantime you can insulate around the rest of the tank. Not over the zoomed heater. The Ultratherms can be insulated over.

[jonathon1989]

How do I insulate around the tank?

[aussieJJDude]

Since you live in a warmer area, your small UTH is likely to be fine in keeping them warm. If I was you, I wouldn't stress too much on getting a larger UTH but simply insulating the tank you have to keep the one you have now to stop large temp fluctuations.


To insulate, you wrap the back and sides (in your case, the parts not covered by the UTH) in an isulative material on the outside of the tank. Could be styrofoam, tinfoil, thick carboard, reflective material used to block sun in cars, unused blankets ect. A combination even. Some even insulate the top (heat rises) as well as the front, particularly below the substrate line.

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[jonathon1989]

Since you live in a warmer area, your small UTH is likely to be fine in keeping them warm. If I was you, I wouldn't stress too much on getting a larger UTH but simply insulating the tank you have to keep the one you have now to stop large temp fluctuations.


To insulate, you wrap the back and sides (in your case, the parts not covered by the UTH) in an isulative material on the outside of the tank. Could be styrofoam, tinfoil, thick carboard, reflective material used to block sun in cars, unused blankets ect. A combination even. Some even insulate the top (heat rises) as well as the front, particularly below the substrate line.

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This really helped. Thank you.


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[Motörcrab]

Zoo Med heaters are not recommended to be insulated. You can insulate the back as AussieJJDude mentioned but cut out around the the Zoo Med heater. The manual doesn't clearly state NOT to insulate but mentions allowing a way to "vent" excess heat. This is a quote directly from their instruction manual, "Never mount the ReptiTherm® heater in a manner that would encapsulate heat."

https://zoomed.com/wp-content/uploads/R ... nstr17.pdf