Need help with best setup.

kingofnobbys":2lo8zcci said:

PVC cages are a bad idea, you need to ensure your basking lamp and it's ceramic socket and any CHE and it's ceramic socket are NOT IN DIRECT CONTACT with the PVC but a very well insulated from it and far enough away from the PVC surfaces to ensure no PVC heat softening or even worse charring occurs of the PVC.
The ceramic fittings can easily become hot enough when powering a high wattage basking globe , MVB or a CHE to char any wooden surfaces they are in direct contact with over as little as an hour or less. This is why insulation is sold to separate the fitting from the timber it's attached to.

Charring PVC gives off a mixture of gases, including hydrogen chloride and chlorine.

The presence of hydrogen chloride in charring gas emissions are very damaging, they cause damage to the lungs (even more so when they accumulate and become much more concentrated in a confined space (such as a lizard's enclosure).
Also likely charring will produce carbon monoxide who's concentration will accumulate where the beardie will be (denser than air) , as will any chlorine gas produced in the charring process.

Personally, I'd never contemplate using a tank made from either PVC or fibre glass for these reasons.
... fire risk
... toxic gas generation risk when overheated

Also because of PVC’s heavy chlorine content, dioxins are released during the manufacturing, and outgassed over time , and when charring and burning. Exposure to dioxins can cause reproductive, developmental, and other health problems, and dioxin is classified as a carcinogen.

Don't believe the shop or manufacture wrt their claims that these tanks are suitable and safe to use as beardie enclosures because they are not safe or suitable and they want to sell you their product.

I don't think there is an safe / suitable set up that wont require modifications of the tank. I recommend leaving it in the box and returning it to exchange for a timber flatpack enclosure with sliding front glass doors (NOT WITH A mesh or screen top - these are hopeless).

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