hello,
This is my second attempt at this post (i am a newby and the first one must have gotten lost in cyber space; perhaps had something to do with forgetting to title it)
I thought i would share a little description of a vivarium i put together about a month ago. The tank is roughly a 24" cube and has a group of four pumio in it. I originally had it lit with a twin 55 watt compact fixture and thought it was doing pretty good but after taking a fc reader and comparing to dappled sunlight outside i realized how dark even a "well-lit" terrarium actually is. So I dug out two 175 watt MH pendant fixtures and put them in the back and slid the twin 55's to the front. I know what you all are thinking 460 watts of light for a 24" cube is overkill. Well, yes it is that is why I routed the two MH fixtures through a digital temperature controller with the probe at the upper portion of the terrarium. When the temp at the top of the viv reaches 86 degrees the MH lights cut off leaving just the compacts running until the temperature drops 4 degrees and the MH lights cut back on. The effect is a somewhat random "sun-fleck" throughout the day accompanied by temperature fluctuations. I have a fan blowing across the top of the terrarium but even with that the tank overheats roughly every hour and a half, and that is dependant on outsides temps, if i am using the oven, or if the sun is hitting the windows....so far the plants are going nuts and the pumilio are getting ready to move their first clutch of tads to nice red bromeliads. The temperature drops to about 72 over the night and then the chaos starts up again. Ben
This is my second attempt at this post (i am a newby and the first one must have gotten lost in cyber space; perhaps had something to do with forgetting to title it)
I thought i would share a little description of a vivarium i put together about a month ago. The tank is roughly a 24" cube and has a group of four pumio in it. I originally had it lit with a twin 55 watt compact fixture and thought it was doing pretty good but after taking a fc reader and comparing to dappled sunlight outside i realized how dark even a "well-lit" terrarium actually is. So I dug out two 175 watt MH pendant fixtures and put them in the back and slid the twin 55's to the front. I know what you all are thinking 460 watts of light for a 24" cube is overkill. Well, yes it is that is why I routed the two MH fixtures through a digital temperature controller with the probe at the upper portion of the terrarium. When the temp at the top of the viv reaches 86 degrees the MH lights cut off leaving just the compacts running until the temperature drops 4 degrees and the MH lights cut back on. The effect is a somewhat random "sun-fleck" throughout the day accompanied by temperature fluctuations. I have a fan blowing across the top of the terrarium but even with that the tank overheats roughly every hour and a half, and that is dependant on outsides temps, if i am using the oven, or if the sun is hitting the windows....so far the plants are going nuts and the pumilio are getting ready to move their first clutch of tads to nice red bromeliads. The temperature drops to about 72 over the night and then the chaos starts up again. Ben
