3ft x 2ft x 2ft enclosure. heating/lighting

[SLACkra]

ok well the reptile enclosure i am building at school is doing pretty good. just need to find some acrylic(which is of course pricy as hell) and attach the hindges.

to provide light and uva/uvb i am thinking of going with an oz bright mercury vapour lamp just hanging from the cealing(drill a hole stick the wiring through and wire up a ES ceramic lamp holder, have it just swinging) i am thinking that it will definately be far away for any lizard to get any where near touching it so no mesh protection for it. i have a 180x120mm vent hole with aluminium vent covers on each side. i think this might not be enough ventilation to keep the cool end cool considering the oz bright, i was thinking of sticking a computer fan in the vent hole and have it on a timer with the ozbright, so when the oz bright is on so is the fan.

I am still not sure what i am going to keep but thats the plan if i go with a uva/uvb needing lizard(bearded/central netteds/gilleni).

your thoughts and opinions please,

Andrew

 

[Jason]

sounds good, cant wait to see some pics

 

[SLACkra]

well i built it in the class called "design and construction". got the messurments off(its actually 932mm x 632mm x 632mm, 900x600x600mm is the actuall space inside the enclosure) to the joinery who cut all the pieces etc. my teacher got them to not drill the holes for me so its not perfect. also the vent covers hide the funky hole that i cut with the jigsaw. between the two vent covers i think there will be ample space to hide a fan or even 2 and i shouldn't have any trouble wiring up a couple 12volt fans.

i will get some pics as soon as i get it home!

andrew

 

[swampie]

Sounds good mate but i would add some more ventilation as those globes put out a fair bit of heat.

 

[SLACkra]

i am hoping that 1 or 2 12volt computer fans will be able to keep the cool end cool.

andrew

 

[munkee]

Is the fan for extraction? Or circulation?
If the ventilation is poor the fans will be more likely to result in a more level air temp in the enclosure. But If extraction Is not a bad idea at all. Just my thoughts

Good idea for a school project though.

 

[SLACkra]

the fans would be sucking air out of the enclosure. which would be replaced by cooler air. or the other way around which would make teh cold end colder. really i am unsure what would be best!

ya good school project, the teachers a nice guy too! he got the school to cover the cost of the melamine(pre-cut and edge taped, and got screws and those white things to hide the screws) which saved me something like $70-$100. that and there are alot of nice tools there. i actually enjoy the classs alot b/c it gives me a good education on DIY!

the door is going to be 6mm acrylic. i have modified 3 hinges to go on it and the hinges will be attached to the acrylic using bolts. the peice of acrylis will be 932mm x 632mm so that it overlaps the whole thing.

atm the only things i have actually paid for for it have been 1 vent cover, my dad baught the other one. and sikalfex which i will do at home but i also used that on the snake enclosure which is yet to be finished.

hopefully it will be a nice enclosure for a lizard. I am really thinking about getting a beardy, they have alot more personality and seem to not mind being handled. however central netteds and pygmy monitors do have their apeal.

cheers

andrew

 

[munkee]

Curses the school is helping you learn!!! I was sure school was purely an elaborate form of torture (me now at uni) .
You tend to suck air out with fans I think but shouldn't really matter I don't think as the air is fed or exhausted and replaced by air by the pressure difference that the fan makes. I think a cool thing to do would be to have a fan venting air in on the cool end and exhausting on the hot end. This would make for a higher heating bill due to the heat loss. Are the fans nessessary? more vents would allow more air in or out. How tight a fit are you going to make te door? My DIY enclosure has peg board on the back and small gaps in the door hinges.

 

[SLACkra]

this is 100% water resistant melamine. i think i will have the fans putting cool air into the enclosure. thus keeping the cool end cool. if it takes air from the enclosure and sucks it out through the vent then possible hot air would come towards the cool end. if i get around to it i might install a vent on the other side. then have 1 fan on the cold side pushing cool air into the enclosure and the hot air out. or the other way around a fan on the hot side taking the hot air out thus getting the cool air to come through the vent.

its all very complicated lol

andrew

 

[Jason]

just a thought, but if you want to put one of those oz brights in there, due to them being so hot, it wouldnt hurt to fasten the fitting to the ceiling at one end....upto you though.

 

[SLACkra]

b/c i am going to have it hanging i can have it really at any distance from the bottom of the enclosure so i could have it very far away from it(the same as if it was fitted directly to the ceiling) or closer if nessesary.

cheers

andrew