Lighting situation, kinda puzzling.

[Reven1337]

Ok so heres the scoop.

I just finished my 2x2x4, i have 2 sockets in the tank one is on the left (basking) and the other is central (empty at the moment).

I chose to put my enclosure in the basement because of the design of my house. The other rooms in the house are cool during the morning and retardedly hot in the after noon and early evening. Basement has consistant temps (little cold but it stays the same all day). Im not home during the day to adjust the temps in the other rooms, so consistancy is key.

I have a 100 watt SB Megaray on route to my house right now. So just for fun i grabbed a 85 watt out door spotlight (we use this at christmas in the front yard in canada) to see what my temps would be like. Well the basking area after ~45min is around the 120 mark, give or take a few degrees, bulb at 15.5" from the tile. The cool side of the tank is just pushing 70 once it has warmed up (over an hour to reach 70). At night my temps are dropping to about 60. So clearly i need a CHE. I tried to adjust the ambient temps with a 60 watt household bulb in the center socket and ended up pushing my basking temps up about 5 degrees and my cool side only came up about 3 degrees.

The only solutions i can think of is installing another socket on the cool side and reserving the center socket for a CHE. That way i can push my cool side temps up without affecting my basking temps too much. The CHE would only be put on at night to keep the temps around the 70 degree range.

My questions are as follows:

1) My basking temps are getting upto 120+ with an 85 watt bulb, the megaray is a 100 watt. Because this is a melamine enclosure im not sure how i can raise and lower my bulb (currently 15.5") to adjust my temps. If my temps are 120+ with an 85 watt arent they going to be off the charts with a 100 watt? This is an out door flood bulb that im testing with, i believe it is made for winter use in Canada, might explain the excessive heat it puts off.

2) With a tank so large would a single CHE in the center socket be able to maintain an ambient temperature of around 70 degrees? Like a regular bulb will it create a hot spot on the ground like a basking bulb and then cooler temps around it? or will it just heat the air?

I know im probably freaking out and i should wait till i get my real bulb before i worry about temps, im just impatient and want to make sure everything is perfect for my little monster when he comes and stays with me for 3 months (hes at my g/fs at the moment in a 55 gal tank).

I take my temps with a National Geographic probe style thermometer that i got at walmart. It takes 2 readings, ambient and probe temps.

Thanks in advance.
Adam

 

[GoFast]

I am going to tackle all three in no specific order because they all tie into each other....

It is very hard for you to tell what your temps are going to be right now because of the bulb you are using. In the first part of your post, you said that you are using an 85 watt out door spotlight and that is part of the reason that you are getting such ridiculously high temps in just that one spot but nowhere else in the tank. A spot light will focus most of its energy on a "spot" so that one spot gets all the heat. I hope your megaray mvb is a flood and not a spot. You will have a nearly impossible time trying to get the heat right with a spot bulb. As a reference to your concern about it getting too hot because you are using an 85w now and the megaray is 100w i will give you my set up in a 4x2x2 enclosure. 1 t-rex actiuv 100w flood mvb and one 36"fluorescent for lighting. Thats it. My basking spot(s) range from 111-102 and the cool side is around 80. SO with just that 100w flood, you should be fine.

The next thing I want to address is the location of the tank. It sounds like a double edge sword for you. The basement is typically a bad choice in my opinion because basements are almost always very humid and that is a big issue with dragons. it can lead to upper respiratory infections and i am sure other things. But, on the other hand, it sounds like the other rooms would just be too hot for him! Do you not have any A/C? My house, upstairs, right now is sitting at about 76 without any a/c right now so I can't imagine yours, in Canada, being worse than mine :shock: If it is within a couple degrees then you should really move that tank out of the basement.

Also, what do you ahve for ventilation on your set-up? can you post some pics of it?

 

[beardie parents]

From our experience, the flood/spot lights can be a lot hotter than normal house bulbs. I don't know anything about the megaray's, tho. We had a 45 watt hallogen bulb that got the area hotter than a 100 watt house bulb. This is just an FYI

Lori

 

[Reven1337]

Ok well my bulb arrived

Gonna try it tonight when i get home.

However i have a question involving ballasts.

I have my 3 fixtures setup in series (wall socket)---(florescent)---(reg socket)---(Basking socket porcelin fixture)

The question is since my florescent fixture has a ballast already in it and it is the first light in the series will that ballast affect the rest of my lights in the series?
I am led to believe that a ballast is something like and amplifier? if this is the case would that not amplify the rest of the lights in my series?

Anyone think this ballast will cause a problem with my MVB? any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Adam.

Edit: basement is kinda half converted into a living area... it doesnt seem humid down there at all... but i should probably get a humidity meter and check it out, thx GoFast again for some great information.