Heating multiple tanks at once?

[Nae]

You see, I am considering making a three tanks in one type enclosure (A centralian, a western, and I considering a pair of shingles). And well, lighting/ heating still confuses the heck out of me 0.0 So, I was wondering if I may have some help/ advice on the most effective way of heating all three tanks with minimal cords and such.

(Now, correct me if Im wrong here) Now, the shingles and the western would require the same day temps, and only a little night heat during winter. Where as the centralian would have to be hotter during the day, with night heat year round except summer.

Also, the tanks are going to be about 50"long, 20" wide and 16" high (is that ok?) with custom landscaping so I can do stuff like have the centralians basking spot higher then the others, say.

Any advice?

[Nae]

Nobody knows ?

Not even just heating three tanks at once, with a slight variation in one? Regardless of the species of blueys~

[Katrina]

Are you stacking them? If so, put the central on top.

I have stackable enclosures and because heat rises I have to dim the heat bulbs all a bit differently. So we have the heat bulbs on a timer, but they all have individual dimmers. We have flourescent bulbs, all on a separate timer, so either the sun can rise before it gets warm or else if we want to brumate and still have day time without heat.

Because our enclosures didn't have the best ventilation, we cut holes in the PCVX and installed small computer fans by the heat lamp. That worked wonders for keeping the temp gradient and not letting a hot heat bulb heat the entire enclosure and also provides a lot of control over humidity, so this might be good for desert species as well.

I would just get all the same type of heat bulb and dim them individually. You might want to get the central a UTH or else a red or black heat bulb for night.

[Alioop]

I've got the Easterns set up with flexwatt heat tape. Mine is hooked up to a dimmer but ideally (and hopefully soon for me) it should be hooked up to a thermostat. The flexwatt is lower wattage than heat bulbs, and the thermostat adjusts the heat output as the ambient temperature in the room changes. Some thermostats even let you program night time drops, so you really never have to touch it.

Jeff has a great set up of lights and flexwatt for his numerous enclosures, so I think he'd be a great one to provide some insight for you as well. If he doesn't see this thread, just send him a pm.

[Nae]

Yep, Ill be stacking them

That sounds fairly simple...But how does everything connect with everything? Did you have to get an electrician in to do it? Im so confused by it all, its probably all so simple

Fans sound like a good idea...I am planning to put like a ' ventilation box', for lack of a better name, on the roof towards the back - this will span the entire length of the cage, be completely open for ventilation (Except for some grating at the bottom) and house the lighting (the heat globes and one of those heatless energy efficient ones at the other end purely for lighting purposes), it would probably be beneficial to pop some fans in there as well~

Well I have a massive stash of red night globes... - So the central will probably have those at night. (Plus they look really cool, hahaha~), as apparently when its warm they stay out after dark, so I would like to see him

I considered a thermostat - The central would require one separate from the western and shingles though, if they work how I think that do?

Ill have to harass Jeff sometime...

[Jeff]

Nae, heating multiple tanks is really just as easy as heating a single tank. Are you sure that a centrilian has different heating requirements than a western and a shingleback? I have never looked into their requirements closely, so I don't know, but it seems like they would do fine under the same conditions.

Here is a childish diagram of how I would wire three enclosures that I wanted to be the same:


By stacking them, you should have a slightly warmer temperature in the top one compared to the bottom. You could also use a slightly higher wattage bulb (or other heat source) in the top enclosure, and place the temperature probe in the bottom or middle enclosure. That would keep the top enclosure even warmer. Everything just plugs into everything. It doesn't take an electrician, or even much intelligence.

[Nae]

Oh wow, thankyou for taking the time to do that! So, basically plug everything into a powerboard, THEN into the thermo/timer...*headdesk* well that makes more sense... So, are your heating and lighting separate?

Yep, being more of a desert species Im fairly certain they do - however, I am thinking that if he is on top, and perhaps build his basking spot up higher to the globe, then (and perhaps put the probe closer to the ground, after checking with a heat gun just how far), then I should be able to keep it that bit hotter then the other two.

Im also considering giving night heat to them all, in the form of a red globe. So perhaps their heating should be red globes, where as additional light on the other end could be from normal, heatless energy globes. Then at night the light globes go off, where as during winter the red globes just dim, or completely off during summer.

[El Lobo]

As per Jeff's diagram. I also plug my thermostats into the timer so I don't have to remember to turn them on and off.

The only drawback to Jeff's method is if the enclosures are at different levels or stacked they will have variations in the temperature from a single thermostat as it only has one probe to govern the dimming and will depend on which enclosure is chosen for the probe. I tried this method for a while but found that the temperature in one enclosure would be ideal but another would be a little low and the third too high. Eventually I ended up with 3 dimming thermostats.

Australian standards require any equipment not pre-wired into a plug to be installed by a licenced electrician. Check with your parents before you attempt any wiring as it can nullify household insurance should anything go wrong.

[Jeff]

The thermostats I use are set up so that you can plug 3 appliances into each thermostat without anything else added. I will post a picture tomorrow when I am at my computer. There is no "wiring" involved with this setup, just plugging one thing into another.

I have not found significant temperature differences in my stacked enclosures, with the exception of the bottom one being a few degrees cooler than those above. This is because all but the bottom enclosure have a heat souce both below the basking area (from the enclosure below), and above. I do have many thermostats though, so each one only regulates a few enclosures.

I don't have my thermostats on timers, because they regulate the temperature 24 hours a day. They have a timer built in, so I set the time that I want the thermostats to allow the temperature to drop, and I program how low I want the temperature to be allowed to drop at night. I want to have the ability to regulate the heat completely independently from the light. That is why almost all of my heat sources provide no light at all. I also use fluorescent lighting so that my lights produce almost no heat. The Megaray 60 watt heat projectors are probably my favorite heat source. Just infrared heat with no light that can be set to any temperature during the day, and any temperature (the same or different) during the night. That way if the temperature were to drop lower than I want in the skinks room, the heat projectors will come on and keep it at the minimum I set without any light.

The other option you would have to regulate the temperatures in each enclosure is to have each heat source plugged into it's own dimmer switch, or rheostat. That way you can just adjust the heat up or down until it is where you want it in each enclosure. The downside of that is, they will not adjust automatically when the ambient temperature in the room changes. You will need to check the temperatures in each enclosure frequently, and adjust them manually as needed.