Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[tafkadaz]

Just after a little bit of advice after building my Ig Viv http://myiguana.hopto.org,
i decided to start creating my Leo Viv's i have done the first bank of 3 and also a large one built into a bookcase i built in kids room.
I am adding a bank of 4-8 under the original 3 and would like a bit of advice on heat mats.
If i had a bank of 8 all in same area no drafts etc and ran a heat mat or 2 under the back 2 thirds of the tank would this be sufficient to heat it, also i use my mats outside the Viv and the material (laminated board) is approx 12-14mm thick wood will the heat be able te penetrate this also what is the best substrate to allow good heat conduction obviously paper towels are thin therefore more heat would come through.
Finlay how well do dimmer stats work with heat mats, i know pulse prop are probably better but i have a spare 600w dimmer one.
Finally location of the probe touching the bottom of the tank or raised???

Last but not least lighting, i want to be able to see my Leo's at night etc i have been looking at the moonlight bulbs 15w, but by the time you buy a bulb and es fitting and cable, it is quite expensive, so i had an idea of maybe using 30mm decking led's blue in colour no heat production, what do you think?

I know the substrate question is kinda thrashed out a lot i am not asking the best substrate just what the different properties regarding heat etc are with each one.And what i should look out for if substrate is thick and the gecko digs it will be hotter on the wood than the substrate.
Should i use mat inside etc.


Thanks in advance.

[jamesj]

Hey,

Not quite sure what you mean here: "ran a heat mat or 2 under the back 2 thirds of the tank" do you mean under each tank? As long as your heat mat covers about 1/3 of the tank at one end you will be fine. I'm not sure if the heat would penetrate through that wood, I put my heat mats inside the vivs in my stack. I would use something like paper towels if you did have the heat mats outside as it would allow for the best heat transfer.

As for the thermostat, I'm almost certain dimmer stats work for heat mats but that dimmer stat (if it is the Habistat one) says it has a minimum load of 40Watts, and heat mats are normally a pretty low wattage. And the probe should be touching the bottom of the viv.

As for lighting those LED's shouldn't be a problem, or you can buy cheap bulb holders from DIY stores and red coloured low wattage bulbs if you can find them. This normally works out cheaper, but the LED option would probably be even cheaper.

Hope some of that helped!
James

[tafkadaz]

Ok i have now got heat mats in each tank (everyone says UTH better than bulbs), since the wood was blocking most of the heat i decided to use a 11" x 11" floor tile (nice and heavy), to cover the heat mat so nothing can get to it but this still creates a nice warm floor effect.
This is connected to a dimmer stat and i get a floor (tile) reading of about 85 oF, i also still want to use bulbs of some sort as i cant see the lizards, the red ones are emitting heat and since they are also connected to a seperate stat very rarley light up since the heat mat is providing the heat i need.
SO
How about these moonlight bulbs that are sold low heat emitting? Could these be used day and night so i can visibly see the geckos?
Can they see blue light??
Any further info on this would be appreciated.

[jamesj]

Those moonlight bulbs would be fine to use both day and night - they cant see the light. However, i brought 3 of these when i was doing the same as you are now, and the bulbs failed after about a week so i stopped using them. Maybe they were a bad batch though?

(Btw how is neo doing that you brought off me?)

[tafkadaz]

Just decided to update on what i have done.
LED's decking ones awsome light perfect for lighting the Viv at night with no added heat.
I have now forked out on extra stats this is how i am setting up now will need to keep my eye on the temps but think it will look nice.
I have a Pulse pro stat connected to the heat mats, this is set at a temp of what i want my night time temperature to be.
I also have red bulbs connected to a dimmer stat with my day time temp so many degrees higher, hopefully in the day the red bulbs will provide a little of the extra heat needed, then at night when i turn the dimmer stat off completely (via timer switch). The pulse pro will keep the mat's going at the slightly lower temp and hopefully create a good environment.
A little complex i know but i enjoy fiddling with these things.
I don't use a conventional timer i hard wire industrial machine timers in these allow dual channel and different powers at different states.
Eg on channel 1 there is 2 live points when the timer is in on mode point A is live when it is in off mode point B is live so i have the dimmer stat connected to A and when this goes off point B becomes live thus activating my blue LED, since it has 2 channels you can use it for a variety of things i use 1 timer for Ig Viv lights night time drop etc. I
will do some pics when i can but i only have a crappy camera anyhow.