my viv project

[Jaskotch]

got some pulls- will apply after the trim, just not sure exactly what width of trim i'm going to end up with so didn't want to place them yet! tho' i gotta say, on those rollers, that glass slides like silk! it will give a nice finished look having them, to be sure

 

[Jaskotch]

UV light installed. No reflector (for now?) Have taken some readings, they are below (in uW/cm2).
I'm using a Fulham Workhorse 3 Instant Start ballast, it's mounted on the back of the enclosure (got it for 16$ + shipping).

at 8" from bulb, directly under bulb, ranges from a low of 63 to a high of 127 (in all cases, the high is achieved at the midpoint of the bulb). on the far end of the enclosure at that height and position, 17.

at 12" from bulb, 47 to 76, with 17 at the far end of the enclosure

at 16" from bulb, 30 to 51, with 26 at the far end of the enclosure

at no position in the enclosure was there less than 16 uW/cm2

So I had an old moonlight fixture on my fish tank that broke long ago- was getting ready to toss it, and thought I'd just pull the reflector, cut it to size to fit over the Arcadia bulb, and remeasure the UVB. At the same positions indicated above, pretty impressive increase.
190 uW/cm2
108 uW/cm2
72 uW/cm2
did not make a big difference when you got to the far corner of the enclosure, but I see that as a good thing, no less than 20 uW/cm2 measured.
This reflector is aluminum with a thin sheet of mylar attached to it. I could always pull that off and assume I would get numbers inbetween those two extremes. But I'm liking these numbers, gives me a little more options when it comes to creating basking spots.

 

[Jaskotch]

Tile is cut and laid in. It is not caulked or grouted in, just sitting there on a layer of paper towels. It is thru body porcelain outdoor tile, "impervious" to moisture. Incandescent fixture is installed. Now I just have to start fooling around with temperature testing-
and, I *think*, just one thing left, the poplar trim, which is propped up on the left side of the viv in the pic below. Oh yea, and then I call the interior decorator

 

[scm133]

You are getting excellent readings with the reflector, and the tile looks awesome. Now the really fun part: tweaking the temps, and decorating.

 

[Jaskotch]

Yea, I think I'm going to go ahead and get the Arcadia reflector from Todd at LightYourReptiles.com - the one I have is really not suited for this, but it did at least serve the purpose of convincing me that I needed to add a reflector! The arcadia reflector looks perfect for this application!
I did a quick and dirty temp check earlier. I put a small rock on a couple of stacked drywall screw boxes directly under the flood- to approximate a possible basking site... the surface of the rock was 130F at one point, while the cool side ambient was 76. Ha ha, somehow I don't think this is going to be fun!!!
Got the trim all cut up, which is good because winter returns tomorrow.......

 

[scm133]

Yea, I think I'm going to go ahead and get the Arcadia reflector from Todd- the one I have is really not suited for this, but it did serve a purpose in convincing me that I needed to add a reflector!
I did a quick and dirty temp check earlier. I put a small rock on a couple of stacked drywall screw boxes directly under the flood- to approximate a possible basking site... the surface of the rock was 130F at one point, while the cool side ambient was 76. Ha ha, somehow I don't think this is going to be fun!!!
Got the trim all cut up, which is good because winter returns tomorrow.......

What watt is your flood light? Is it halogen?

 

[Jaskotch]

Yes, it is halogen- Philips EcoVantage Indoor Outdoor PAR30L "bright light" dimmable flood.
So, I never knew how many different types of flood light bulbs there were!!!
Wattage? I think 53? What it says on the package is "53W = 75W". As a former engineer, I have to say, I do not understand. Is it 53 W, or 75???? Whatever-
what I was looking for was the highest color temperature I could find- this one is 2900K. And 920 lumens. I think in these terms, color temp and lumens. How that equates to temp, well, that's another thing! I think with the new reflector, and lowering the potential basking spot, I may still get there with this bulb. But.... we'll see!

 

[scm133]

Hope it works. I tried the GE reveal Halogen 75 watts. It had the Full-Spectrum with 960 lumens. It was a PAR30LN. It was way too hot for my viv. I was so disappointed.

 

[Jaskotch]

ta..da...

 

[scm133]

ta..da...

Looks Awesome!!!!!!!! Floor finished???

 

[Jaskotch]

yep, tiles are just set in there, so that is complete. i can't believe it's done- this took a lot more outta me than i'd anticipated! but it was fun, and worthwhile... all that is left is the interior decoration and once that's done, i'll finalize the temperature testing. thanks for all the help, advice and encouragement! 8)

 

[Chiefin29]

Very nice...one of the cleaner vivs. I just got done building a melamine viv myself....had to have home depot cut the pieces, as I had no way of transporting such the whole sheet. Cuts were rough, but not too bad. I'm still in the hunt for the perfect basking bulb as well. I started out with spot light style halogens, but as of late bought a few "clear" incandescent and halogen bulbs. The latest bulb I'm using...the one I'm leaning towards keeping is the Sylvania super saver halogen clear @ 72W (shaped like a typical in house bulb). Tempes have been pretty decent in the viv (4x2x2). There are two other bulbs I plan on testing here in the next week...so we'll see.

Again...very nice. If I could do it over again...I'd do a similar t5 fixture, I love how clean and simple your setup is. I went with the reptisun 10.0 t8 bulbs....cheaper but they are still very good...left myself some room for improvement though! lol.

 

[Jaskotch]

thx chiefin29! did you post pics of yours up here somewhere? would like to see!
working with melamine was definitely an eye opening experience. from the weight of it, to the crumbly nature of it! but as a viv material, i don't know, but i think it's just about perfect. and that crossfire design is so elegant- there was hardly any waste, i liked that! (in addition to the 4 pcs of 24x48" sheets that i used, the home depot i got mine at had 1 pc of a 12x48" sheet, which ended up providing the 4 pcs that made up the front rail supports - no waste whatsoever, there!)
and btw, if you decide to change your fixturing later on, and don't like to see any unused holes that you may have previously drilled, a little square of that melanime edging works great to cover those up. sticks to the melamine resin just as well as it does to the particleboard cut edges!

i'll certainly give the bulb you mentioned a try- have not finalized that part yet!

 

[Chiefin29]

Oh and also the Sylvania super saver halogen is 1520 lumens! My god is the melamine heavy. I posted a pic of my viv in the intro section, I was in a rush to get it done as my gf purchased a baby beardie at a local pet store...this happened the same day our original beardie was mailed out to us. There was a stark difference in size, so there was no way I was going to house them together. Ha I had a piece of foam core splitting a 40 gal breeder tank...I left my viv "unfininshed," but functional in hopes to change a few things when time and situation permits. I forgot to mention that the home depot employee cut my sides a bit short...the nice guy that I am...I said that it wasn't a big deal and tried to adapt.

I already drew up another viv on sketch up...I've also been debating on if it's worth doing the whole foam/grout work inside the viv...there are pros and cons to everything I suppose.

 

[Jaskotch]

Ha ha! Yea, I'm the same way. Had some plywood cut up at Lowes once, and it was not quite right... they're so nice and helpful, what can you say? But I knew from then on I'd always prefer to do it myself- and the more tools I've bought, the more stuff I've wanted to build, so that's cool.
I just had that Philips 53W flood running for about 4 hours- the temperature at the substrate (under the bulb) was 105, and on the cool end was 78. And that's without that T5 running- that Arcadia bulb definitely puts out a little heat. Think I'm going to have to dial that down a little bit! Like the suggestion of the Sylvania Super Saver- I'm thinking a flood type of bulb is not going to work in my viv- one that heats to a good basking temp in the beam will not heat up the other side of the viv sufficiently. Hey, do you know the color temperature of that Sylvania by any chance?
Will check out your pics-