Critique my Rack System

[justin-branam]

Almost finished getting this thing together. Just wanted to know what you all thought, and if it needs any changes.

Details:
Sweater boxes are 18x24 inches, 3" 10 watt flexwatt running across the front giving a warmside temp of around 88 and a cool side of around 76. Hides are 4" PVC pipe cut in half and 7 inches long (sanded all edges because they were sharp!). the mealworm dishes are about 1 1/4" high porcelain dishes i got at Pier 1 for $1 each. I am going to run out now and get the tupperware for the moist hides and some calcium and water dishes. Other than that, tell me what you think. Total cost for everything (including the soldering iron i bought) was less than $100. And i do have the top piece so i can add another 2 units, but i may stick a larger tub up there so im waiting to put the top on.


HERE IS THE WHOLE THING

HERE IS THE LAYOUT OF EACH CONTAINER

 

[GeckoMandi]

That looks really good Justin! I got just my first rack with sweater boxes and I love it!! I also love the PVC hides, that's an awesome idea already got my boyfriend lined up to make me some LOL!

PS I love your salt water tank in the back.

 

[justin-branam]

That looks really good Justin! I got just my first rack with sweater boxes and I love it!! I also love the PVC hides, that's an awesome idea already got my boyfriend lined up to make me some LOL!

PS I love your salt water tank in the back.

thanks. the pvc idea came up by accident when i saw a piece laying in my garage, and it was cut in half for some reason, so the lightbulb came on saying, a bigger pipe could be a gecko hide! not to mention it cost me $10 to make 16 hides.

here is the setup all setup with geckos and all.

 

[Kotsay1414]

Very nice! I'm going to get my melamine cut tomorrow and to buy some PVC pipe. I should get my FlexWatt next week.

I love your PVC Pipe idea!

What do you think you will use for Calcium dishes?

 

[justin-branam]

What do you think you will use for Calcium dishes?

i went to REI and got a bunch of $0.55 2oz. containers that had lids attatched to them. i cut the lids off and used the container for water and the lid for calcium.

 

[lil_katiedan]

Very nice! Your geckos are spoiled .

 

[Jeanne]

The rack looks great! I love your hide boxes too

2 questions, why did you put the hot spot in the front? On all the racks that I have had and/or seen, the heat has always been in the back, not sure if it matters, I am just curious.

And, are you sure the rack is stable on that cart in the last picture? I would hate for it to tip over....YIKES!

 

[eyelids]

I was curious about the front heat too, but I guess it's not a problem if you like your hides in front.

 

[ReptileMan27]

WOW, looks great

 

[justin-branam]

The rack looks great! I love your hide boxes too

2 questions, why did you put the hot spot in the front? On all the racks that I have had and/or seen, the heat has always been in the back, not sure if it matters, I am just curious.

And, are you sure the rack is stable on that cart in the last picture? I would hate for it to tip over....YIKES!

1) i decided i wanted the heat in the front, so i could see the egglaying/moist hides a little easier, and this way i dont have to pull each tub out all the way to reach back to get the hide to moisten it. i can just pull it out about half way, and it is easier to reach back to grab the food bowl. plus my geckos hang out on the warm sides more, so this way i can see them. i had planned on doing rear heat until i set the tubs in backwards, and then realized i liked it better.

2) yeah it is stable. i checked that first. it is bolted to the cart on the bottom as well.

 

[Leopardgeckopunk]

Looks great! Why did you stack it on top of the orange cart?

 

[justin-branam]

Looks great! Why did you stack it on top of the orange cart?

didnt want it sitting on the ground so i dont have to reach way down there (call me lazy). plus the cart has wheels, and if you look closely, you can see the rack is in front of my book case, so that makes it easy to roll out of the way a bit when i need to.

 

[GECKOMAN]

Very Very nice!!!
Your geckos are so lucky!
I like the PVC hide idea!

 

[MischiefManaged]

Wow, I am very impressed! You did a great job! :thumbsup:

 

[justin-branam]

here was the original picture:

**WARNING** - READ IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUILD A RACK SYSTEM LIKE THIS ONE-
as you can see, the tubs are sitting in between two layers of melamine. no one pointed out to me the fact that the flexwatt tape MUST have some type of airflow to it, and should not directly touch the rack or the tubs. long story short, the tape got very hot in one spot under a tub, and melted through the tub and almost burnt the rack system (could have caught on fire). i am now switching to heat cable, which is insulated, and will fit into a groove under each tub which i will route out.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Yikes! Glad you caught it in time.

 

[Herpcam]

**WARNING** - READ IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUILD A RACK SYSTEM LIKE THIS ONE-
as you can see, the tubs are sitting in between two layers of melamine. no one pointed out to me the fact that the flexwatt tape MUST have some type of airflow to it, and should not directly touch the rack or the tubs. long story short, the tape got very hot in one spot under a tub, and melted through the tub and almost burnt the rack system (could have caught on fire). i am now switching to heat cable, which is insulated, and will fit into a groove under each tub which i will route out.

Maybe you covered it somewhere else, but are you using a dimmer or thermostat of some sort? If not, that would account for the tape getting too hot and melting the tub. If you didn't wire in a dimmer, you can get one made for lamps that handles 300-600w, which would be enough for many racks. It's a good idea to wire only 2-3 levels together, so you can control the heat for each pair or trio of shelves independently. I found that most of the time, the shelves were cooler closer to the floor. Here's a picture of the lamp dimmer I'm talking about -

When I built my rack, I put a spacer with the tub to create about a 1/8" gap for each level and that has helped keep the tubs from being pushed down on to the tape and scraping it or getting too hot. Some people will route out a small groove for the tape, but I have not needed it and have been using the rack for several years.

 

[justin-branam]

had a dimmer on it. guess you just have to have a gap for air flow. either way, i don think ill ever use flexwatt again after some of the other stories i have heard about

 

[trizzypballr]

hmm, i never left a 'gap' between my heat tape and my tub. Have had my rack built and using it for about 3 months so far and had no problems, of course Im using a helix with it though so i dont expect any problems. Im actully using normal plyboard also, way cheaper than melimine

 

[Herpcam]

hmm, i never left a 'gap' between my heat tape and my tub. Have had my rack built and using it for about 3 months so far and had no problems, of course Im using a helix with it though so i dont expect any problems. Im actully using normal plyboard also, way cheaper than melimine

I don't think you actually need a gap for airflow underneath the tubs, but the tubs shouldn't be so tight that they're forced down onto the heat tape. This would likely cause the plastic on the heat tape to rub away, scuff, or scratch and possibly cause the electrically charged metal filaments to be out in the open. Then, not only could the heat build up more, but you could touch it and electrocute yourself. If the tubs you're using have a recessed area on the bottom, I guess the heat could build up a little, but I'm not sure that would be such a bad thing. I would think it could help distribute the heat more evenly. I only have a small gap on the top of the boxes so they slide in and out easily with no chance of heat or humidity affecting their fit.

I wonder what type of tubs the original poster was using because these things typically have a pretty high temperature tolerance from what I've seen. I've run mine up to 110F before without any indication they were affected at all, much less melting. Maybe they weren't the typical Sterilite or Rubbermaid boxes. I'd also be interested in knowing how the temps were measured and monitored on his rack. I keep multiple digital thermometers with min/max memory taped directly onto the heat tape in my racks to ensure they don't overheat. One of the racks is controlled by a Helix and the other with dimmers. Never had a problem and haven't heard too many horror stories about properly installed heat tape, luckily.