False bottom

[chrishelby]

We have been working at getting our tank humidity right for our baby. It's got coco in the bottom. If I get it really moist it will hit 80% which is great. I am noticing that in some places like under her hide it is dripping wet! I have seen on some frog forums that they use eggcrate( lighting defuser panels to make a false bottom with a drain tube to siphon water out. With this and maybe a layer of bark on the top I can get the coco substrate as wet as needed to keep the humidity up but not have a sloppy mush in the enclosure. Any thoughts on this will be great. My temps are 110 on the hot and 80 on the cool. Uv coil for now 12 on, and a 250w spot on the hot side which dries it out in a 100gal glass tank with tinfoil over the top. Sorry for the long post, I just want to include all the info. Thanks

 

[ascott]

might just work out fine, I wonder though if your substrate would have to be netted to assure that the soil does not impact your grate and hose? Wait a bit and see what the others think, more the merrier

 

[Kristina]

I have a false bottom like this in the land area of my Reeve's turtle's enclosure. I like it because if it gets too wet, I can siphon the water out so it doesn't get stagnant (I siliconed a piece of airline tubing in place for just that reason.)

I second that you should use some screen in between the egg crate and the substrate.

 

[chrishelby]

The instructions for the bottom are to make 2" stand offs out of 2" PVC with a 1" pipe above the substrate to siphon out water. The eggcrate resting on top of the PVC legs. Then fiberglass window screen over the eggcrate to keep the substrate out of the bottom.

 

[wellington]

Not sure why it won't work. Hopefully someone will repond that has a solution if yours won't work. Probably more important though is the coil light you are using. Most everyone say not to use them can cause eye problems for the tort. Search on the forum coil light and you will probably find some threads about them. Someone will probably address that issue here also.

 

[ascott]

the coil light you are using. Most everyone say not to use them can cause eye problems for the tort. Search on the forum coil light and you will probably find some threads about them. Someone will probably address that issue here also.

lol...I was so not going to bring that up at this point, I have been trying to not pull apart folks right at the start,.....was going to come back to that issue later I personally would choose a long tube uvb bulb along with a basking bulb vs a coil bulb ---more so in the event of a hatchling or very young developing tortoise--I believe that since their eyes are very sensitive at this young age the coil bulb is a bit too risky...but again, that is TOTALLY my opinion and others have a variety of things that work for them --so wait round and see what you get

 

[chrishelby]

Thanks for the light tip, I have read that they are bad, that some are bad, that long tubes don't do what they say, questions of how long to leave them on, 2-3 hours vs 12 on 12 off????? I think I'm going to replace the 250w heat lamp with a 160 MV lamp for 12 hours in the day and a CHE lamp for night. We just had the coil so used it till we read through all the info to come up with the best option. It is also 18" up from the bottom and on the cool side so I was hoping it was far enough away to not hurt her eyes? The change to the mv will be soon. If you think nothing is better for now let me know and I'll take it out? Thanks

 

[chrishelby]

Ok, so I built the false bottom. It looks like it's going to work great! Here's a few pics. Phase two will be to mount 2 heat lights under the glass of the tank, heating the air and substrate making a humidifier. I'll also try to post a video of the PVC rain system if vids work in here? If not you just pour warm water into the PVC grid with 1/16 drilled holes and it rains in the tank and the extra runs into the bottom. It can be syphoned out or it will evaporate when the light system is done. What do you think?