Ultratherm UTH

[ArielRavage7]

I just received my ultratherm heater today. I have it taped with duct tape to the back of my tank for now to see how that works. I'm just a little fuzzy on why and when and of course how to insulate it. I know its radiant heat but I'm not sure if its a steady heat or it adjusts with the out side temps. The instructions that came with it didn't really say much about that. So any help will be awesome. ^.^

[hermieluv1]

Some insulate with cardboard over the heater and the ends of tank, and others (like me) use insulation board from the home improvement store. The heat is constant so you may want to get a dimmer so you can control it.

[ArielRavage7]

Thank you and also I have another quick question. How long usually does it take to get a tank up to temp? The instructions say to watch it for 48 hours,but does it actually take that long to heat?

[wodesorel]

There is a lot of sand that will naturally take a while to warm up, especially if the room temperature is lower than normal. I believe the heating elements in the pads also have a break-in period before they hit their max output. The pads also self-regulate the temperature so there will be periods where they a little cooler and a little hotter, which average out over time.

I really think they put those warnings on the pads so that people don't plug them in and forget they are on. Heating is something that needs to be regularly monitored to make sure it's not getting too hot or too cold, even with a good product providing the heat. You'd be surprised how many people would just plug the pad in since it says it's a "heater", and then not bother to check to make sure their pet wasn't cooking or freezing because there's something on the tank that is supposed to take care of that for them.