MIReptilian
Member
sorry for the delay, Jeff, but was not "onlne" since yesterday AM.
I agree with William that you only need UVB in one location. I would go central for that with a 4 foot T5 HO UVB. A double tube T5 HO using 12% HO tubes. You would then mount that higher - probably 30" +- or so and it would give a large effective UVI zone over probably a 3' x 5' area of the enclosure. The HO tubes also give off quite a bit of heat and would definitely help in the ambient heating of that greenhouse. I would also use Two double T5 4 foot fixtures for ambient. I would use grow lights in those. Great for ambient lighting and for growing plants. The T5s will also add heat to your room.
I feel the oil filled heaters would not be sufficient for your basement in a large/taller area. They work great in a night box, but that is a confined space. I would go with a space heater of about 1000-1500 watts that is controlled on a built in thermostat. Very common everywhere for heating individual rooms. You might not find it needs to go on much at all as the 6 T5 tubes plus the two 65 watt incandescents will provide a decent amount of heat in that greenhouse during the daytime. You will set the space heater for the desired minimmum ambient heat.
Here's how I would do that layout:
View attachment 277398
Thank you so much Mark. Like I said, I owe you one for all the advice you've provided.
I'm going to take your suggestions on the layout. Do you think I should add a few CHEs on timers for the night time? If so, do I place them randomly over the table or directly above the hides I plan on using?
Another question... any benefit to LED tubes over the fluorescent 6500k? The flourescent will probably help with heating, but the LEDs might be cheaper to run.
Any suggestions on the brands of fixtures? Both for the uvb and grow lights?
Edit: just to be clear, you're suggesting a double uvb fixture loaded with two t5 ho 12% bulbs?
I guess I can either set this up right the first time, or try to be cost effective and cheap. It doesnt look like I'm going to be able to do both. The Arcadia fixtures and bulbs I've been looking at are pretty expensive. Buy once cry once?
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