From Freezer to Microwave in 3 Easy Steps

Discussion in 'Enclosures, Heating & Lighting' started by Snaggletooth, Oct 13, 2003.

  1. Snaggletooth

    Snaggletooth Embryo

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    Hey Axe,

    I'm back again. In my last thread I wrote about my close call with too cool of temps in my Leo's tank. Well, it flipped the other way and I'd like to get your take on this before before I make any more changes.

    I did as we talked about and installled a ZooMed UTH (10 to 20 gal size) on the left side of the tank. Applied as per instructions. It's on the glass, the 1/4 risers on on the bottom of the tank for venting, and there was 1 1/2 in. of ReptiSand covering the bottom. I laid a tank liner (the green felt type) on the inside covering the 1/2 of the tank with the UTH as our Leo is a digger.

    Using the digital temp probe I monitored the temp for a week and with the probe just below surface level inside the warm hide it stayed, with very little varience, at about 88.9 degrees. The highest temp during the day with the light 75 watt spot on was 90.1 and dropped to 86 at the lowest at night with the 75 watt dark light. The UTH is plugged in 24/7 and the lights as I said are timer controlled at 12 hours intervals. The room temp is a pretty steady at about 77 degrees.

    The other morning I woke up just before the light shift and found the temp to be 108 and the Leo had moved to the cool hide. (Never done before at night) I checked the probe and digital unit and it checked out ok. I pressed the probe down to bottom against the liner and in 15 minutes it ran up to 112 degrees. I shut down the lights and left it for the day. The temp stayed at about 108 all day inside the hide. The highest temp recorded on top of the liner under 1 1/2 in. of sand was 118.9!

    I have plugged the UTH into the timer for now to come on at night with the dark light. The sand holds the temp well during the day and keeps it warm enough until the UTH comes back on at 7:00 PM. But by morning the temp is back up to 102 to 106.

    Of course, the local provider where I bought the UTH says that temp swings are normal and just move the hide off the top of the UTH and don't worry about it. They suggested the ZooMed Controller, and well, we already talked about that. Not my chosen route.

    I changed the sand today to the Play Sand we talked about after sifting it down from a 50 pound bag to about 30 pound of fine stuff. The UTH is back on, the lights are off, and the probe is back inside the hide on the surface of over 2 inches of fresh sand. That was finshed at noon and the the temp is already showing 101.4 at 5:40 PM.

    So what can I say. It's a long winded explaination again but I want you to have a good picture of the conditions and what we are doing. The tank bottom is not showing any stress cracks, the water bowl is and has always been on the farthest side away from the UTH.

    The Leo still uses the warm hide during the day, except for one morning when she kept going in and coming right back out and returning to the cool hide. Her signal that it was too hot I thought. She has been active and eating well and seems to be fine.

    So, am I a proud owner of a defective UTH after a week of excellent performance, or is this normal? Any suggestions?

    Mike
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. Axe

    Axe Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, I'd avoid the ZooMed controller, because of the fire history, heh. But, you could just use a regular light dimmer switch from Home Depot. I know a bunch of people who use those with heatpads & the FlexWatt heat tape with zero problems.

    I wouldn't say it's necessarily defective, but for the first couple of weeks, it's just being fired up, and it needs to kind of "break in" to a happy medium, so to speak.

    But yeah, I'd just go get a dimmer from Home Depot, and use that to lower the temps a bit.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. Snaggletooth

    Snaggletooth Embryo

    Messages:
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    Thanks again Axe,

    It's as good as done. Still have a load of electrical stuff from when I tore out the dark room. By tomorrow night I'll have a full bank of dimmers installed. One for the UTH, one for the day spot and one for the night light. Why not? If ya gonna do it, go crazy!

    I just had some concerns when the temp had been so perfect for a week, then the big jump up. What? Me worry?

    And thanks for the quick feed back. But my daughter had the best solution. Just open the window again! Isn't that where this whole thing started from? :roll:

    Enjoy

    Mike
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. Axe

    Axe Well-Known Member

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    Dark room? A photographer huh? Don't suppose you've got any Nikon AF lenses going cheap? hehe. I got an N90s a few weeks ago, and I've got a couple of MF lenses which are working well, but I'm after something with a really long focal length eventually (400-500mm or so). Gonna have to save up for a while to get one of those though :D

    It could just be that now the heatpad's been running a while, it's "broken in" like I said, and now it's running at optimal performance.

    LOL, yeah, opening the window a bit might help too, lol.
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. Snaggletooth

    Snaggletooth Embryo

    Messages:
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    Sorry,

    Sold my Nikon F1 long ago and I don't think those lens would have ya much good anyway. Still drag around a couple of Canons for those (You won't belive what I saw!) shots. A well worn A1 and an EF that may be a classic by now. Stripped out my dark room when I moved 4 1/2 years ago and decided not to rebuild it. I guess I'm showing my age but I still believe in the purist mentality of film. Not much demand for the old school anymore. Used to do a lot of multi-image and long expouser shots and spent hours inhaling chemical fumes to get what I wanted. Now, with the digital age, it's click - point - drag - shift and your done. Sorry, lost it's charm for me. I won't dis it and it has it's good points but I still have my view of what photography should be.

    I bought a 100-300 once and it ended up being the first lens I got rid of. Took a lot of stablity to make a clear shot and the light had to be pretty strong. I think it was like 4.5 on the low side. I needed 1.8 at best. But there ya go. It's all about the billfold. I had an oppurtunity once to borrow a Canon 2500 lens from a friend that owned a photography store here in Omaha. It caught light at 1.2 and it was sweet. The front of the lens was about 10 or 11 inches across. Monster lens. It had been rented from Canon to a friend of his that had been doing wild life shots in Alaska and it had a week left on the agreement before it had to be returned. So I got to play. But man, the replacement cost was about $27,000 if anything happened to it. And that was years ago. Makes ya check your tripod every couple of minutes.

    But anyway. Good luck on your lens hunt. And I will proably be around sooner or later. I'm sure we will experience another issue that we will need advice on.

    Mike
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. Axe

    Axe Well-Known Member

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    You know, I'm actually converting FROM digital to film... I mean, Film cameras are equivalent toanywhere between 24-65Megapixels depending on film quality, and I can't afford digital SLR, heh. Right now I'm saving up for the D100, that way my lenses will work on both cameras.

    Sigma have made a couple of not-bad lenses that I'd like. They're not quite as good as the Nikkors but still great lenses.

    Oh man, would've loved to see that 2500, heh. Right now I've got a Sigma 50mm f/2.8 MF Macro (wanting the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF Macro), and a Vivitar 70-210 MF Macro. They're good enough for now while I'm still learning and figuring all this lot out, so I'm in no real hurry to expand, plus the cash is required elsewhere for the time being.
     
  12. Snaggletooth

    Snaggletooth Embryo

    Messages:
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    I hear ya Axe. The conversion (in reverse) will be an interesting experience for you. There are so few digital SLRs on the market and an even worse selection of interchanable lens. Or even affordable lens. When ya get to the point that you decide to set up a darkroom, bang your head on the door frame for a while and then reconsider. I spent 9 years improving mine and could run b/w and color and make prints up to 20 by 36. Not bad for a basement setup in a 12 x 14 room. But I poured in a lot of bucks. All I can say was I was lucky enough that it did end up paying for itself. I did a lot of commercial stuff for local building contractors to keep the bread buttered and then the Harley heads and truck owners with show rigs for fun. Never would do a wedding. I'd rather shoot a funeral. At least I figured the guy would be going to a better place that way. :D I have my pride.

    But I'd better pack it up. 5:00 AM rolls around early.

    Later

    Mike
     
  13. Axe

    Axe Well-Known Member

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    Oooh no, no dark room for me, heh. Too expensive, and not enough rooms - I still need an office and a dedicated herp room, heh. That's great that it did manage to pay for itself for you. With me it's mostly just a hobby right now, although I do want to get some techniques figured out for when we start breeding, and film gets too expensive when you could be dealing with potentially a couple of dozen clutches of 30 babies each, heh, so that's why I'm looking into the D100.

    Nope, I'd never do a wedding either, well, unless they paid me enough to buy at least a half-decent lens. Actually, I need to try and find a good flash at the right price. The SB-80DX runs about 350, quite a bit beyond my price range right now, lol.

    lol, Have a good sleep, I'm about to get off myself.

    G'nite :D
     
  14. EmilyH

    EmilyH New Member

    Messages:
    142
    What fire history? How did you find this out, exactly? Did you have a problem, or did someone else? How many people have had problems? What exactly caused it? Is the info in (a) news article(s) somewhere online?

    Sorry if I sound a little paranoid, but I went through a fire around Christmas time and lost everything. :) I was thinking about getting a gecko before then, good thing I didn't!
     
  15. smiles

    smiles New Member

    Messages:
    119
    Personally, I find that an overhead night time heat bulb left on 24/7 over slate tile substrate does the job effectively and safely. Im definately not a fan of heat pads no matter how they are used because of the increased fire danger
     

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