New Enclosure and Lighting Crisis

Markw84

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The fixture itself (for the T5) has nowhere to attach anything. No hooks, no holes. I don't know about you but I am not skilled enough to try to make my own holes in a metal fixture and void the warranty.
I just went into the garage to make something up for you in less than a minute...

take two coat hangers - the old wire ones. Cut and bend them like this. Hook it around the sides of the fixture towards each end and hang!! (Building a new enclosure right now in the background)coat hanger.jpg
 

dwright27

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I just went into the garage to make something up for you in less than a minute...

take two coat hangers - the old wire ones. Cut and bend them like this. Hook it around the sides of the fixture towards each end and hang!! (Building a new enclosure right now in the background)View attachment 226779

You, sir, are a smartypants! lol. I found some old cup hooks in the basement, so I've got that going for me... tin snips on the other hand, I'll have to purchase :'(
 

dwright27

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Fun fact: we have no more wire hangers in the house; we got rid of them all a couple of years ago. LMAO ohhh this keeps getting better.
 

Reptilian Feline

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We have halogen bulbs in regular fixtures now and they provide both light and heat. I'm in Sweden so my lamp sockets are either E14 or E27. Those halogen bulbs are ment to be in regular lamp holders.
A hammok for the tube light isn't a bad idea, but I would make it of ribbon... the kind you can scavange from backpacks and so on. Use some duct tape to hold it in place, and hang it up.
The duct tape for sealing the gaps is a good idea... there is even tarp repair tape or look for the T-shaped silicone "stoppers" that is supposed to make a "basine" for a shower on the floor or to stop water from running down the back of the bathtub. I even found a more envorinment friendly duct tape that has regular rubber on the back as glue. Thought it would work under water... no way, but on something dry to semi moist it might work... if you worry about different glues leaking into the substrate.
 

dwright27

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We have halogen bulbs in regular fixtures now and they provide both light and heat. I'm in Sweden so my lamp sockets are either E14 or E27. Those halogen bulbs are ment to be in regular lamp holders.
A hammok for the tube light isn't a bad idea, but I would make it of ribbon... the kind you can scavange from backpacks and so on. Use some duct tape to hold it in place, and hang it up.
The duct tape for sealing the gaps is a good idea... there is even tarp repair tape or look for the T-shaped silicone "stoppers" that is supposed to make a "basine" for a shower on the floor or to stop water from running down the back of the bathtub. I even found a more envorinment friendly duct tape that has regular rubber on the back as glue. Thought it would work under water... no way, but on something dry to semi moist it might work... if you worry about different glues leaking into the substrate.

The halogen bulbs I've seen here get far too hot for these plastic fixtures. I used to use one for my blue-tongued skink. I don't know what E14/E27 even means though, LOL!

Ribbon...from backpacks? Huh? I'm confused lol.

I have laid a tarp down so I'm not concerned about that so much now.. But there will be a certain amount of water in the bottom as this will be a bioactive setup.
 

Reptilian Feline

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The halogen bulbs I've seen here get far too hot for these plastic fixtures. I used to use one for my blue-tongued skink. I don't know what E14/E27 even means though, LOL!

Ribbon...from backpacks? Huh? I'm confused lol.

I have laid a tarp down so I'm not concerned about that so much now.. But there will be a certain amount of water in the bottom as this will be a bioactive setup.
Halogen bulbs come in two versions; one for halogen setups with transformers and stuff, and they usually have two metal prongs sticking out. The other can be fitted in a regular light fixture, and those are the ones I talk about.

The ribbons from backpacks is a cheap way to get enough material that is steady enough to hold somethings up. It does depend on the backpack of course, but the parts you stick your arms through... where they can be made longer or shorter... that's the kind of ribbon I'm talking about.
 

dwright27

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Halogen bulbs come in two versions; one for halogen setups with transformers and stuff, and they usually have two metal prongs sticking out. The other can be fitted in a regular light fixture, and those are the ones I talk about.

The ribbons from backpacks is a cheap way to get enough material that is steady enough to hold somethings up. It does depend on the backpack of course, but the parts you stick your arms through... where they can be made longer or shorter... that's the kind of ribbon I'm talking about.

I used self-ballasted halogen bulbs and they got crazy hot.. perhaps it was due to the wattage though?

and... NOW I GET IT about the ribbon, LOL!
 

dwright27

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Update, I know it has been a while but I've been in a winter funk and just not had it in me to complete this yet.

The good news is that the temp is staying pretty consistent (at least over the last 6 hours). The bad news is that it's not warm enough. However I do have a 150 watt CHE, I just need to figure out how to hang it because it's currently on a zoomed lamp stand..

I planted a ton of seeds in there so we'll see what wins out. There's Timothy grass, white clover, alsike clover, and some beach/cottage grass blend that I was able to grow before.. The seeds are kind of old though, so who knows.

I wound up using the tarp idea for the bottom. Expanded clay balls for drainage (there's more in there now than in the pics lol), then weed mat, then a mix of organic topsoil and coconut coir. Let me tell you.. If you ever need coco coir or expanded clay balls.. Don't try the pet store! I got mine at a hydroponics store and the clay balls come in a gigantic bag for $40 CAD and the coco coir was enough to probably fill a big garbage bag once it was expanded for about $20 CAD. The pet stores charge three times as much for the same amount of stuff. But I digress!

The spider plant "mom" won't be staying in there, I'm just keeping it there so the babies can take root and then I'll snip them. The mom is in potting mix with vermiculite and I don't want my tort getting any of that!

Still thinking of other plants I can put in there. I've got two brackets in there that I was originally going to use for the lights but ended up using the cup hooks and hangers for that! So I'm curious to see if I can find itty bitty hanging pots and put the spider babies in those.. Or a fern or something?

The light in the middle is just a regular incandescent bulb for extra light and I was hoping it would be enough for heat but it isn't, so like I said I'll be adding the CHE to the end over the hide.

The hide is the top of a kitty litter box with the flap removed. I was concerned that because it's a stiff flap that it might get caught on her shell and she might get stuck, so I took it off and used it to cover the hole on the right hand side where the third lamp was.

I didn't realize how easily scratched Plexiglas is.. Paper towel seems to be a no go? So open to suggestions for keeping that clean.

Oh and the water dish I'm going to try to find some river rocks or something but I haven't been able to at this time of year. 20180214_164926.jpg20180214_165019.jpg20180214_165041.jpg20180214_165113.jpg20180214_180933.jpg20180219_171537.jpg20180219_171612.jpg20180219_171627.jpg20180219_171632.jpg
 

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