Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need some advice on my tank I just built. Its a 6'x3'x3' for my 1 year old savannah. Ive been working on it for the past few weeks on the weekends. But its been done now for about a week. Well anyways I decided to go with a radiant heat panel and see how it would work. Well Ive been running it full blast for about and week and Im just not sure if its gonna keep sufficient temps. The cool side is barely in the 80's the ambient temp is about 90 and the hot side is in the 110's. The panel sets up a great heat gradient but my worry is the basking spot has never gotten hotter than 125. And I cant raise it any closer than 6 inches from the panel. Im also worried about the winter months, since my temps now are going to be the hottest temps the tank will get and being I live in michigan, if my room temp drops 5 degrees during the winter the tanks going to drop some too. Im just wondering if any one has any experience with this. Im either going to order a larger wattage panel(BIG $$$$) or maybe just add a heat lamp. Sorry for the lenght and thanks for the help. Ill try and add a pic soon.

Heres some pictures to help visualize the tank. The first picture is of the basking area and the radiant heat panel.. The second pic is of his hide under the basking area. and the third is and overall of the whole tank.

I don't think your going to find a RHP that is going to give you the balance between your basking spot and the ambient temps. You'd have to up the RHP wattage, which may make your ambient temps too high. It be easier to use a bank of three or four 30w indoor floods which would give you your temps needed for a Monitor basking spot at 8" or more away. Radient heat is awesome, but I think it would be more efficient and easier with bulbs. What your thinking would work out in something like a walk in enclosure or other large enclosure.
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South Central Herpetological

hey, i have a question. what did you build your cage out of, and what did you line the inside and seal it with? i'm building a 6x4x3 and i'm looking for ideas

thanks
ian

My tank is built out of 1" thick HDPE plastic. Its a great material to use but if your design is not well done it will bow and warp like crazy. Im going to school for civil engineering and I work for a construction company so its kind of my gig. But I got the material for free, it would have been around 1500 cost for my company. I would suggest other materials. I didnt line it with any thing just sealed the corners with 100% silicone sealant, that you can find at home depot. If you look at my member pics under spartys tank youll see more of the tank.

thanks, haha $1500 sounds like quiet a bit. i'll just make it out of wood then because i can get it free. can anyone suggest something i should seal the wood with?

thanks
ian

I have used panels for basking, until I got sick of how limiting it was.

A larger panel won't get substantially hotter, it'll put out more heat (over a wider area). To up the temps, the monitor has to get closer to the panel.

I'd recommend using some sort of bulb(s) for basking, the panels are great to keep the ambients from getting too cold. I allow ambients much cooler than 80s though.

--Robert

Yea, I recently rearranged the basking spot so its now pushing about 130ish, and my ambient temps are just about perfect. I think Im just going to wait it out and let my monitor tell me if its hot enough or not by how much time he spend at the top and other places. If its often I will add a heat lamp like you sugested and rearrange the basking spot again. Thanks alot for your input and help.
-Nick-