Hello!
I don't have my crested gecko yet, just trying to get everything set up. I have an 18x18x24 Exo Terra with an 80w Arcadia DHP in a Arcadia 5.5" dome on a lamp stand connected to the 600w Exo Terra dimming/pulse thermostat set at 77F. I have a Pangea thermometer/hygrometer that i'm not sure is 100% correct but my temp gun reads similar temps to the thermometer. My room temp is anywhere from ~60-65F in the winter but it's about 65F now.
I've been fiddling around with it for days and cannot get the temps right. Initially I had the very top at ~81-82F, middle at ~71-72F and near front vents about ~68-69F with the dome just a few mm above the mesh. I was fixing some things in the enclosure yesterday and ever since I cannot get the temps back to what they were.
The top by the mesh was reading close to 90F when it was ~82F early in the day. Any little hand movement near the thermostat probe made it drop a degree and the DHP ramped up, was glowing, and threw out too much heat to get it up a degree.
I now have the dome a few inches above the mesh and the top is reading 81.5F again. I just don't understand why I had to make such a drastic change. I even turned the thermostat down to 76F to get it to that temp. The thermostat probe and thermometer probe are very close to each other yet one is reading 76F and the other near 82F.
I'm picking up an Arcadia CHE because i'm quite nervous about the top being too hot and the bottom not being warm enough. In any case the CHE would be a back up if it works the same but still... Am I missing something? I'm extremely new to all of this so please forgive the novel. lol
I don't have my crested gecko yet, just trying to get everything set up. I have an 18x18x24 Exo Terra with an 80w Arcadia DHP in a Arcadia 5.5" dome on a lamp stand connected to the 600w Exo Terra dimming/pulse thermostat set at 77F. I have a Pangea thermometer/hygrometer that i'm not sure is 100% correct but my temp gun reads similar temps to the thermometer. My room temp is anywhere from ~60-65F in the winter but it's about 65F now.
I've been fiddling around with it for days and cannot get the temps right. Initially I had the very top at ~81-82F, middle at ~71-72F and near front vents about ~68-69F with the dome just a few mm above the mesh. I was fixing some things in the enclosure yesterday and ever since I cannot get the temps back to what they were.
The top by the mesh was reading close to 90F when it was ~82F early in the day. Any little hand movement near the thermostat probe made it drop a degree and the DHP ramped up, was glowing, and threw out too much heat to get it up a degree.
I now have the dome a few inches above the mesh and the top is reading 81.5F again. I just don't understand why I had to make such a drastic change. I even turned the thermostat down to 76F to get it to that temp. The thermostat probe and thermometer probe are very close to each other yet one is reading 76F and the other near 82F.
I'm picking up an Arcadia CHE because i'm quite nervous about the top being too hot and the bottom not being warm enough. In any case the CHE would be a back up if it works the same but still... Am I missing something? I'm extremely new to all of this so please forgive the novel. lol