Corflute heat mat to heat aquarium from underneath?

[Renenet]

Hi,

I have been exploring ways to heat the aquarium I am setting up for my stimmie. I live in Cairns, so won't need to heat continuously. I only want to give her belly heat for the cooler winter days and when she has to digest.

The aquarium is sitting on this stand:

I have a sheet of polystyrene foam between the stand and the aquarium.

I am thinking of making a heat mat from Corflute and a heat cord, as described in a couple of other threads, and sticking it under the aquarium. That's assuming I can track down 10 mm Corflute. My questions are:

1) Would I need an insulating layer between the glass and the mat to stop the glass cracking and/or snake burning?
2) What should I use for the insulating layer?
3) Any suggestions on how to hold it in place?
4) Any better ideas?

Thanks,
Ren

 

[imported_Varanus]

I used a similar set up with 20W heat cord (in a cooler ambient) and found I needed a thermostat to control temps accurately, probe placed between corflute and enclosure floor. Maybe a lower wattage heat cord would suffice, without a thermo? In the end, I opted for the "ReptaheatMat with Temp Controller", given the price of dedicated thermostats (not sure if this is an option for you, though?).

1) I would think not, just between mat and enclosure stand: bottom of enclosure/ mat/ insulation/ stand.
2) Styrofoam sheeting- 10mm or thicker. You may need a base board for your stand?
3) Weight of the enclosure should hold it down.
4) Sounds like a plan! For my only other suggestion, see above.

Hope this helps?!

 

[Snowman]

Cant answer the other questions, but I use 10mm coreflute a lot. It's bloody hard to track down. You can get it from BFS plastics in QLD, I'm getting them to ship some to perth.

 

[Bluetongue1]

The temperature will not worry the glass. You can put a cold glass plate into a sink of near boiling water without a problem. However, tip boiling water onto part of the plate and it may crack. Rapid localised expansion or contraction can put undue stress on adjacent areas that have not expanded or contracted. Given the temperatures you will be dealing with, this won’t be a problem.

Sit the coreflute on the glass base in the stand, cut out a piece of plywood or styrefoam of the same thickness, such as it covers the rest of the glass base. Then sit the aquarium directly on that. You can also place a slate tile inside the aquarium and directly above the coreflute mat. This will provide a more natural heating surface and looks better than bare glass or news paper etc.

Have you considered placing the corflute inside the aquarium and a slate til on top of it? I realise that leaves an exposed section of heat cord to deal with. This can be routed up the corner of two adjacent sides and a piece of electrical conduit slipped over the top.

I am not a fan of heat mats in general but the flat black cord types are a huge improvement on the bag types, of which some should simply not be sold for safety reasons. Anyway, you can get a 7W unit or so which might be ample for your needs up their.

Blue

 

[andynic07]

Cant answer the other questions, but I use 10mm coreflute a lot. It's bloody hard to track down. You can get it from BFS plastics in QLD, I'm getting them to ship some to perth.

I believe transport companies use it a lot to go between the gates and the freight on taughtliners .

 

[disintegratus]

I believe transport companies use it a lot to go between the gates and the freight on taughtliners .

No, 10mm corflute is expensive. Transport companies are, by and wide, a cheap lot (5 years experience in the industry taught me that, you practically have to sign your life away for a cheap nasty pen, let alone anything else). They tend to use the really thin stuff, or at best 6mm or so. A signwriting mob might be your best bet. If you're not fussed about what it looks like, they might even have some offcuts or misprinted signs they'd give you for cheaper, or even free.

 

[andynic07]

No, 10mm corflute is expensive. Transport companies are, by and wide, a cheap lot (5 years experience in the industry taught me that, you practically have to sign your life away for a cheap nasty pen, let alone anything else). They tend to use the really thin stuff, or at best 6mm or so. A signwriting mob might be your best bet. If you're not fussed about what it looks like, they might even have some offcuts or misprinted signs they'd give you for cheaper, or even free.

I was thinking that you could find out from a transport company where they buy it from.

 

[bigjoediver]

Those thin heat mats are designed to go under glass vivaria/aquariums so unless you have a heat cord laying around, by the time you get some core flute and buy a heat cord you could get a 14w heat mat off eBay for the same price. Just put aquarium on 10mm foam and put mat in between and put a thermostat probe in contact with the mat. If you get a name brand one from the pet shops that is the directions given on how to set it up.

 

[imported_Varanus]

Gotta love Gumtree, Ebay, etc!

 

[Renenet]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Just put aquarium on 10mm foam and put mat in between and put a thermostat probe in contact with the mat. If you get a name brand one from the pet shops that is the directions given on how to set it up.

Is there some risk that sandwiching a heat mat between the glass and the foam sheet will cause a fire because excess heat can't escape?

 

[Snowman]

No, 10mm corflute is expensive. Transport companies are, by and wide, a cheap lot (5 years experience in the industry taught me that, you practically have to sign your life away for a cheap nasty pen, let alone anything else). They tend to use the really thin stuff, or at best 6mm or so. A signwriting mob might be your best bet. If you're not fussed about what it looks like, they might even have some offcuts or misprinted signs they'd give you for cheaper, or even free.

Yep even the sign companies are not using 10mm as much. All the ones I called only stock up to 6mm. The only place I can find 10mm in Australia is from plastic manufactures and distributors.

 

[imported_Varanus]

If you carefully remove the black plastic capping at the end of the heat cord, it will fit in smaller sized corflute panels. I've done this with a panel placed in the bottom of a Lace monitor nest box.

 

[fourexes]

I've got 8mm and it fits the cords I have. Purchased from bunnings it's expensive for a sheet as I used the polycarb roof sheeting but one sheet should last almost your entire herping career if not make some cash on the side I drill mine every 20mm or so down every runner the cord runs down to prevent heat retention then suspend the whole assembly facing the holes down. This provide a warm hide underneath and a basking spot on top, which is supplemented by a heat globe through the day leaving plenty of room for ventilation over and under.

Can post pics if necessary but I'm sure I stole the idea from someone on here anyway :lol:

edit: with more focus on your original post I also run one of the same mats as I mentioned before, under a plastic tub sitting on melamine with the holes facing up, and a gap between the mat and tub.

 

[andynic07]

Can post pics if necessary but I'm sure I stole the idea from someone on here anyway :lol:

Yes please (photos)

 

[Snowman]

Yes please (photos)

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-reptile-discussion-42/radiant-heat-panels-181687/

 

[Snowman]

Above is a link to my first heat panel DIY.
Here is some I was working on Easter weekend. This is using a 80w cord and the coreflute panel is 500mm long.
I don't drill any holes as I if find that heating the air in the tubes
makes the panel a lot warmer. As heat chords get warmer in warmer environments. I still use a pulse proportional thermostat though it gets to a max of 45 degrees on top of the shelf un regulated but not the whole enclosure.
The vivs are 1800L 400H 600W

 

[Bluetongue1]

….Is there some risk that sandwiching a heat mat between the glass and the foam sheet will cause a fire because excess heat can't escape?

The ‘sandwich’ of materials surrounding the heat mat will determine the potential rate at which heat can move away from the heat mat. This sandwich includes whatever is in the aquarium and sitting on the glass above the mat. The rate at which heat will actually move depends on this and the heat differential (difference in temperature) between the mat and where the ambient temperature inside and outside the aquarium. The matt wattage will determine the amount of heat generated by the mat – higher wattage means more heat.

I am sure anything 15W or less should be fine without an air gap. However, it is worth checking out on the packaging instructions at a pet shop and then with a decent thermometer once it has been running for a few days and the temps have stabilised. Heat is transferred in three possible ways… Conduction: Heat moves through a substance; Convection: Heat is carried in a moving current e.g. hot air rises; Radiation: Hot objects give off infrared rays (IR) of light. When objects absorb IR they heat up. No air gap means no you are eliminating convection and forcing all heat transfer from the mat to occur primarily through conduction (you get some IR transfer through the glass). So depending what goes over the warm glass area inside the aquarium, this could have a significant effect on the temperature the mat gets to.

Blue

 

[fourexes]

Above is a link to my first heat panel DIY.
Here is some I was working on Easter weekend....

I had a vague idea it was you I stole the idea off in the first place lol. Thanks snowman.

Here are some pics as requested, just to add to the plethora of information added by snow. And to add, I only drill holes in the runs with the cord inside to evacuate 'mass heat' all the others are undrilled. If I could I would cross drill the whole lot parallel to the the top and bottom sheets and only drill the faces of the runs with no cord then it would dissipate better. For now, this works with little hassle.

 

[Renenet]

Thanks, Snowman, Blue and Fourexes.

Fourexes: Is that Corflute or polycarbonate roof sheeting you're using in that mat?

 

[Snowman]

I had a vague idea it was you I stole the idea off in the first place lol. Thanks snowman.

Here are some pics as requested, just to add to the plethora of information added by snow. And to add, I only drill holes in the runs with the cord inside to evacuate 'mass heat' all the others are undrilled. If I could I would cross drill the whole lot parallel to the the top and bottom sheets and only drill the faces of the runs with no cord then it would dissipate better. For now, this works with little hassle.

Looks good. I've been thinking of using the poly to make racks with.