56 gal aquarium to terrestrial terrarium conversion

[froggsong]

If you use a green bulb, it shouldn't disturb your leo as long as it is dim, and on all night. If you are turning it on and off, it's going to bother him (obviously you know that already). I'd try a green "party" bulb from wally-world or somewhere similar and see how it affects him. Those bulbs are only 25W, so they are fairly dim. OR, you could use some green LEDs (this would probably be even better).

[fallenangelfyre]

Originally Posted by Epiphile

Red light in a particular range does cause plants to photosynthesize. The less light they receive at night the better, I'd think. I would guess that a dim red light wouldn't be too bad for the plants, but I couldn't say for sure.

I think a warm light can be achieved with fluorescent lights- using a lower colour temperature will give you a more yellow (headed towards red the lower you go), less "harsh" light.

Originally Posted by froggsong

If you use a green bulb, it shouldn't disturb your leo as long as it is dim, and on all night. If you are turning it on and off, it's going to bother him (obviously you know that already). I'd try a green "party" bulb from wally-world or somewhere similar and see how it affects him. Those bulbs are only 25W, so they are fairly dim. OR, you could use some green LEDs (this would probably be even better).

thank you epiphile & froggsong- excellent information & input. froggsong; i definitely won't be turning the light on & off at night (i try to disturb him as little as possible, besides a little handling time every other day or so). thank you-

anybody have any input on the substrate idea i mentioned before? anyone attempted anything like this? anybody see any problems with the idea? the cement board is made of only portland cement, sand, and fiberglass mesh for strength. my only worry is that with this terrarium being pretty much all enclosed w/o the open top, i can't rely on incandescents or heat emitting bulbs. i have to rely solely on the uth. i was planning on still adhering it under the bottom glass plate (putting it inside the cage scares me), but then the heat has to travel through 3/8" glass -> 1/4" cement board -> roughly 1/4" - 1/2" grout before it reaches my leo's belly.

[beckdg]

with a decent heat pad it should penetrate that just fine.
flexwatt or heat ropes instead of a traditional heat mat can help a lot too.

[fallenangelfyre]

yeah, i've thought of flexwatt or heat cable as an alternative. but i've never used them before, and i don't want to fork out the $100+ for a decent thermostat just yet. but i will keep it open as an option. i plan on having a small 1" hole drilled in the bottom, left corner of the new back glass piece that i will cover with a thin wall of grout that can be punched through in case i need to wire some in-tank heating, etc. later down the road. *forethought is key-
idk. i'm going to try my substrate idea, but if it doesn't pan out i will go with the broken tile on a thin bed of sand route, or if worst comes to worst good ol' repti-carpet.
*UPDATE- today i razor bladed off the old silicone and sanded down the old pieces of trim first with 50 grit to get rid of old, deep scratches as well as better adhesion with the paint, then with 150 grit for a smooth finish. i then spray painted them with a plastic primer spray paint. tomorrow i will paint two coats of black, then a coat of clear varnish for better protection from scratches.
i also tried to do a thorough wash job of the existing four glass panels, and i can't seem to get some residue off. the aquarium sat in the neighbors back yard for two years or more with about two inches of standing water/dirt/debri, and the line from this won't seem to go away. alot of this will be covered by the BG anyway, but i want it to be as clear as possible, but still wary of scratching the glass. i tried using a brillo-pad type thing that came with my new stove designed to clean the glass top w/o scratching it, but to no avail. ah well. also finished drawing up precise plans for the new back piece and sliding doors. going to place the order tomorrow. pictures coming soon.

[Epiphile]

A razor blade and some elbow grease should get that residue off the glass.

I think your cement board could work, but will it transmit enough heat? Particularly if that's all you're relying on, it may be a concern. Do you have a piece of scrap you could test with?

[beckdg]

crete transfers heat quite well. it just takes some time that's all. the crete itself has to get to temp first. it's always best to check your temps for a few days when making changes or setting something up anyway.
try citrus s.o.s. pads... they worked well for my 50 gal and i'd wager you'd be shocked how bad it was when i started.
i would never pay $100 for a thermostat unless my viv was too large to purchase or it were to run quite a bit of tanks. i'm using the repti-therm 500 and feel it's sufficient if not perfect for my application.
you can get a dimmer... either one you'd wire in yourself or a lamp dimmer cord. the dimmer cords i've been able to find for ~$7 online. when i got my last one i was in a hurry so i got it locally at a lighting shop for ~$20. if you have any wiring knowledge you can get a dimmer for only a couple bucks too.
a cheap dimmer and some flexwatt should run you less than a heat pad you'd find at a pet store and be fully controllable.

[little98dime]

+1 on the repti therm. I have 2. One for each Leo tank snd I love them. For being an on/off style thermostat, it is fairly accurate. Enough so that I hatched out 7 perfectly healthy box turtle eggs using a styrofoam cooler. All 7 are due to be released this week as they were eggs that were laid in my driveway.

[fallenangelfyre]

sorry 'bout the absence and lack of progress guys. life . . busy, busy. but, i've saved some more $ for the project and cut a couple shifts from the work schedule- back on track.

*UPDATE (sadly with no pics) so i managed to find some time to finish sanding/painting/clear-coating the old trim and what a difference. as the hardest working man in show-biz says, "Papa's got a brand new bag!"
they use to have a puke brown faux wood grain that was all scratched up and looked very 80's. so i sanded them down, put one coat of plastic primer on them, followed with 2 coats of black, followed by two coats of clear flat spray enamel for durability. these will be siliconed back in place later. will post pics tomorrow.
tomorrow with my new day off (woo!) i'm going down to a local glass shop to get the new back piece and silicone it in:

. . which will just need, what? a day to cure? then i will start the styrofoam and grout BG. two questions:
-i live in a metropolis so when i looked in the phone book for glass shops there were like 100 entries. i started calling and every time i received the reply that they were wholesalers. so i just called the one small glass shop that i know of, gave them the specs and was quoted a price of $70 just for the back piece. this seems quite pricey to me. how does it sit with you guys?
-what is a good brand of silicone to use and where to buy? do i need aquarium-grade? there will be no water as this is desert-themed for a leopard gecko.
from now on i will do a much more thorough job of documenting my progress with pics so i can share the whole process with you guys.

Originally Posted by beckdg

crete transfers heat quite well. it just takes some time that's all. the crete itself has to get to temp first. it's always best to check your temps for a few days when making changes or setting something up anyway.

cool- definitely planning on at least a few days of a dry-run to test temps, humidity lvls, etc. since nothing is being taken from his current set-up for this one, he is fine, if not a lil' crowded 'till the new palace is ready.

Originally Posted by beckdg

try citrus s.o.s. pads... they worked well for my 50 gal and i'd wager you'd be shocked how bad it was when i started.

won't this scratch the glass?

Originally Posted by beckdg

i would never pay $100 for a thermostat unless my viv was too large to purchase or it were to run quite a bit of tanks. i'm using the repti-therm 500 and feel it's sufficient if not perfect for my application.
you can get a dimmer... either one you'd wire in yourself or a lamp dimmer cord. the dimmer cords i've been able to find for ~$7 online. when i got my last one i was in a hurry so i got it locally at a lighting shop for ~$20. if you have any wiring knowledge you can get a dimmer for only a couple bucks too.
a cheap dimmer and some flexwatt should run you less than a heat pad you'd find at a pet store and be fully controllable.

excellent. i like to be thrifty, and am very handy- just finished installing/plumbing/wiring my new garbage disposal!
so, in your opinion, some flex-watt and a dimmer would be better than a UTH adhered to the bottom of the tank?

[Epiphile]

Originally Posted by fallenangelfyre

-i live in a metropolis so when i looked in the phone book for glass shops there were like 100 entries. i started calling and every time i received the reply that they were wholesalers. so i just called the one small glass shop that i know of, gave them the specs and was quoted a price of $70 just for the back piece. this seems quite pricey to me. how does it sit with you guys?

It's not too expensive, especially if they quoted you for the holes as well. 1/4" glass isn't particularly cheap. You could probably shop around a bit if you were able to get ahold of a couple more stores. Window and mirror repair places are a good bet most of the time.

Originally Posted by fallenangelfyre

-what is a good brand of silicone to use and where to buy? do i need aquarium-grade? there will be no water as this is desert-themed for a leopard gecko.

I use GE silicone II for my needs- it seems to be popular with others as well. It's cheap and can be had at any hardware store.

[newsalt]

For cleaning the residue off the glass try cutting a lemon in half and scrub the residue with the lemon half. It works really well, costs pennies and doesn't require super human effort to work. It is also all natural so no worries about residue. : )