My New Boaphile Setup - With Review

[dakski]

I recently set up my 5 tank "apartment" complex for my reptiles. I got the setup from Jeff Ronne at Boaphile Plastics.

I could not be happier!

First, the tanks are all of great build quality and they came with everything working spot on, save for a fluorescent fixture that was presumably damaged during shipping or shorted out. Either way, a minor issue and Jeff already has a new light fixture in the mail after calling him today about it.

Secondly, they maintain temps and humidity phenomenally!

I would recommend his tanks to anyone! Best setup I have ever had.

I wanted to address two issues that I have read on this, and other forums, about Boaphile Plastics and Jeff, and then I will give a detailed description of the setup.

I have read that Jeff is unresponsive to emails and that it takes a while to get the tanks.

Boaphileplastics.com requests that people call instead of emailing. I probably called Jeff 25X between designing, ordering, and setting up the tanks. The few times he did not pick up, he called back in short order. He never complained about my 100's of questions and answered everything completely and politely.

He told me it would be 5-6 weeks or so to get the tanks; they are custom made to order. It took about 6 weeks, but he called me to tell me he was running the tanks (heat panels, flex watt heat strips, etc) in his shop to get the chemical smell out. Usually you have to do that because of the sealant on the radiant heat panels especially. I had told Jeff the setup was going in a poorly vented basement and I had a kidney transplant and was sensitive to some things. He decided to run them instead of me having to do it when the tanks came. When they came, they were ready to rock and roll.

Bottom line regarding Jeff and Boaphile plastics is that I had zero issues with him/them. He communicated when I asked, sent receipts for payment and tracking for shipping etc.

On to the setup:

The footprint of all 5 tanks is 6 feet X 2 feet. The top tank, for my Blue Tongue Skink, Frank, is 17.5 inches high (to accommodate basking and UVB lighting). All the others are 11.5 inches high.

The tanks stack and rest on a 11.5 inch high pedestal (two 3X2 pedestals actually). The total height is 6'3", or there about.

All tanks have radiant heat panels and 2X flex watt heat (on the bottom) on the left side and 1.5X flex watt heat on the right side.

I am having no issue maintaining proper temps and humidity.

I asked for 2 sides to have vents for Frank the BTS cage and for my leopard geckos (3 females) which I am keeping open so it stays pretty dry in there. I asked for 1 side to have vents for my corn snake (Figment), my BCI (Behira), and my BP (Shayna). However, being winter, I am keeping those vents closed for now.

I am running 4 redundant/dual thermostats provided by Boaphile.

The top four tanks, BTS, BP, BCI, and Geckos, all have one thermostat maintaining about 80 degrees on the right side via the 1.5X UT heating elements.

The geckos, the BP, and BCI (middle 3 tanks) use one thermostat to maintain about 90 degrees on the left side via 2X UT heating elements and RHP. The temps in the middle of these tanks (where there is no heating element) is about 79-81.

Frank has a fluorescent UVB and basking bulb on the left side and one UVB on the right side. His temps are about 95 average on the left side.

Finally, Figment, the Hypo-Lavender corn, has one thermostat on the left side of his enclosure that powers all 3 heating elements in his tank. It maintains about 86 on the left side and about 78 on the right side with an temp in the middle of about 76.

Cost:

First, the cost was 100% worth it. It wasn't cheap, but after everything was said it done, it cost the same as my 3 molded tanks (one 5X2' and two 4X2') after I installed RHP, UTH's, thermostats, etc. shipped.

Here, Boaphile did everything for me, and neatly and efficiently I might add. The integration of lighting and heating is awesome. As I have said, the tanks maintain temps, in a finished basement with average winter temps of 69 degrees, perfectly. I also love having the redundant thermostats. Gives me a lot of comfort.

I imagine this post will be around for a while and do not want to give exact costs. Boaphile's costs may change, or, more importantly, your setup will differ. If you really want to know, you can either price things out on his page, or PM me.

Bottom Line/Rating:

5/5 stars.



Pictures (please excuse the wire mess - I will be addressing it ASAP).