How do you heat your wooden viv?

Hey guys,
I wanted to get some opinions on the best way to heat a wooden viv. I'm planning to start my build soon so wanted to get everything figured out first.
I will most likely be using melamine to build the enclosure out of if that makes a difference.
It was just recommended by someone else on this forum to use flex watt or heat tape on the inside of the viv with a ceramic tile siliconed in place over top of it, is this the best way to go? Has anyone else done this?

How do u heat your wooden viv?

Thanks,
Beth

I'm the one who recommended the aforementioned method. I just got done setting up a melamine enclosure using that method. So far its working great. Don't mind the thermometer probe, I just slapped it on there to dial the temps in, it has since been properly mounted and snake proofed!

oh nice, the pics help a lot thank you.
So you taped the flex watt to the bottom of the tank, put the tile over it and then did u just tape around it or is that sealed with silicone?

You have to route out\chisel out a channel on the bottom of the viv so you can lay the thermostat probe in it so the tile can lay flat against the bottom of the viv. Then you just lay the tile over the heat tape, and silicone around the edges.

what about the covers that go over the connectors on the heat tape, wouldnt those make it so the tile doesnt lay flat?
would it be possible to leave the thermostat probe on top of the tile like in your pic, taped down with substrate on top

Yes, there is a small gap from the protectors, but only about an 1/8", vs 1/4" with the probe. You want the thermostat probe on the heat tape so you know exactly what the temp of the heat tape is.

hmm, not sure i would have the tools to route a channel tho

if i had the thermostat probe on top of the tile it would keep that at the desired temp. thats all that matters right?

It's not difficult to make the groove, if you plan on building a viv from scratch, the groove is the least of your worries! Lol

Lol building the viv is easy.. Made one for a beardie once. There's no special tools need to screw boards together to make a box