Heating a 48 x 16 x 17 glass enclosure

[bcking98]

Hello everyone. I have been a silent observer on this site and want to start by saying thank you to everyone for the wealth of knowledge and information you have all shared. I have learned so much from you all.

I have a male Enchi Pastave BP that is outgrowing his 20 gallon home. I want to move him into a 48 x 16 x 17 glass terrarium that I have. Will a RBI 80 watt RHP work to heat the cool side ambient / air temp up to 80 on a 48 x 16x 17 glass terrarium? I already have the glass terrarium, but hope to purchase a pvc enclosure in the future. I have a Herpstat 2 tstat to control heat. I already have a large UTH heater. It covers just over half of the tank so I have it set to create a surface temp of 85. I am using a CHE over the hide on the hot side to get its temp up to 90. My problem is keeping the cool side ground/air temp at 80 and humidity levels up. I want to get the new home all dialed in before moving my baby to the new home.

Is it safe to set an 80 watt RHP on top of the screen lid on the cool side, and do you think it will provide enough heat to warm the cool side to 80? My room temps generally vary from 65-70. I would plan to use the 2nd probe of my tstat to control the RHP. Then at some point use it in a T8 or similar pvc enclosure. Will this work well? I have read that RHPs generally aren't recommended for glass enclosures. I prefer not to use bulbs because they really dry things out and humidity is already tough to keep up. I live in high desert of southern CA so we have very low humidity. I have been using the Forest Floor cypress mulch for the substrate and covering the majority of the screen with tinfoil to help with humidity levels in my 20 long. I plan to do the same with the bigger tank, but realize it will be more difficult to keep humidity levels up. Any help with both heating and humidity controls would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you,
Bryan

[Slither Seeker]

I'd consider a second UTH for the Herpstat 2 and consider insulating the bottom, top and three sides and getting rid of other heat sources. you'd need to cut out a space on the bottom for the UTH and make sure it can vent so as to not overheat or better yet either buy a heat panel or convert an UTH into one, this will greatly improve the energy efficiency of the enclosure. heat lamps/CHE's are like having a bonfire in the back yard, they require very open enclosures, making precise and stable temperature and humidity very hard to achieve.

[Lizardlicks]

I wouldn't set the RHP directly on top of the screen. Even if it's not a safety issue, you still have to pick it up and move it every time you want to access the enclosure. I think building or retrofitting something to mount it to suspended above the cage would work better. And slither has the right idea, if you find a way to insulate the cage, you might be able to just ditch the CHE and run the hot spot off the RHP while the rest of the tank stays in the correct ambient range.

[bcking98]

Thank you all for the responses. I have actually changed gears now. I found a great deal in a used Visuon Cages V400 so I picked it up over the weekend. I have Pro Heat PH3 on order as well. Now I just need to decide the best place to place the probe for my Herpstat to best regulate the temperature. I will start a new thread for that :-)