[TroyL]

I have a custom built tank that I am building for my tokay Gecko. It measures 30L x 12W x 21D. Its roughly 33/34 gallon tank. I removed the top and bottom black plastic off the tank and ripped out the front glass and did s horizonal split on it to make an access door. Then hinged and added a lock to it. The way I had it setup prior I was unable to get the gradient temp of the tank past 80. So I have decided to tear it down and want to put a wood canopy on top of this tank with a couple of moon lamps to be able to view at night and a CHE (ceramic heat emmiter) to bring it up to temp where it needs to be for Minion my tokay gecko. So I actually have 2 questions on this redo. 1. First is what size CHE will I need to put in to get this size up to temp?

2. I want to put a wood canopy over the top of this setup. I currently have a screen top on it to keep him in. I want to keep that top on it and place the canopy over it. So that leads to my question of How far from the CHE would the sides have to be so they don't burn or catch fire? Is this even an issue. I have searched online and have not found any info on this subject. I know I will need a ceramic light fixture so it does not melt from the heat. Just nothing as far as how much distance is needed between CHE and side walls. I am guessing with there being 12 inches front to back that there may only be 4inches on the front and back sides. I will be running it on a reastat as well.

So any info anyone has that can help me would be great. I will be putting plastic/silk plants in this setup as I have tried doing live plants and that didnt go well. I can grow plants just not in an aquarium.

Thanks for any help.

Troy

[drillman]

I've found that in a tall vivarium with a CHE the heat stays in the very top of the vivarium. I put in a small fan to help move the hot air around and move the heat further down. I did this in mine, but had to put in a second fan to get it right. So it is kind of trial and error to get the right size fan for your vivarium. Too big and your vivarium will be all one temp, too small and top will be hot and everything below will be too cold. I've been buying my fans from willyselectronics.com. They have a good selection of fans.
I would guess that you should get the smallest CHE which I think is 60 watts and a clamp lamp sized for 100 watts to put it in. This would keep the CHE far enough from the wood. You find out a lot of thing which you never though about when designing and building the vivarium. For example I found out that I mine the plants in the top of mine need to be watered twice a week while the plants in the bottom need to be watered about once every 2 weeks.

[Riverside Reptiles]

If you put the fan in the bottom of the cage, blowing out, it will draw the heat down from the top, and out through the bottom. Thus, the warm air will circulate throughout the enclosure rather than simply build up at the top.

Distance from the CHE will depend on how much heat it's putting off. I would strongly suggest putting your CHE on a thermostat for both fire safety as well as the safety of your animal. Personally, I'd go with a high wattage CHE as the thermostat will control how hot it gets and better to have extra power if needed than to not have enough. You can also put the fan on the thermostat so that it only cuts on/off as needed. A thermostat also adds a lot of convenience as it allows you to set it and then not have to constantly worry about whether the enclosure is the proper temp or not.

[jpstodwftexas]

I am gonna ask a few Questions first

What is the Ambient temperature of the Room where your Gonna keep the Vivarium? A room that is 78*f requires less to keep the Temperature up than a room that is 55*f..Glass is not a well know insulator..I highly doubt your cage has Low E Thermal insulated glass.

Do Some research on the Natural temperature range you might find that the Temperature varies more and gets lower than 90*F at night.

[TroyL]

We keep our house very chilly. Ambient in the house in the winter is about 64-66. Turning it up to keep the house warmer is not an option. I refuse to pay a higher electric and gas bill when I can heat the viv easier and for a ton less money a month. I am more curious as to how far the heat emitter need to be from the side wood. Its a 100 watt emmiter. I know I can raise the tank temp with using basking lights but I just don't want to blast all that light in on a gecko that like the light. So any suggestions would be great.

Troy

[jpstodwftexas]

Several things you can do to reduce the chance of catching the wood on fire.

Line the wood with a thin sheet rock.
Line the wood with a thin metal..
Line the area around the Heater with a piece of ceramic
There is even a small sheet of non-flammablecloth that plumbers use to prevent wood from burning when soldering copper with direct flames so I am sure it will prevent a ceramic heater from burning

I can not find and hard set rules about how far to keep them away from wood surfaces..

It all depends on the Type of wood I imagine..some catch fire easier..wood like pine seems to catch on fire faster than red oak.

Maybe someone would volunteer to do some actual research on the subject

[billewicz]

I'm not a big fan of wood for several reasons. And yeah, fire is one of them with a ceramic heater. Second is mites. They just seem to have a way of moving in to most wood unless it is sealed. Which brings me to humidity. Untreated, the wood will absorb moisture which can defeat the whole deal. (I also have loose Tokay in each reptile room for cricket clean-up duty, so I do not use ceramics above the enclosures.)

I like your enclosure size, especially since your Tokay could get up to 14 inches long. I've used screen tops because ventilation is essential to Tokay, as is high humidity and the temp variations mentioned above.

In the summer once the simulated 'rainy' season has ended I use tile or loose plate glass over the back half of the screen top. It's just a low tech humidity regulator. Even with an auto-misting system, the moisture level will vary from enclosure to enclosure, so I may cover a third or over half of the top.

I also still use under tank heat pads to keep one area of the bottom warm. This allows for heat to be present more evenly throughout the enclosure at night and helps offset the cold room temps, (assuming you are not using a ceramic), and will help dry out the substrate on a daily basis. (Very important not to have a soggy bottom). This also brings the humidity up.

Well enjoy your project and good luck,

Michael