Quote Originally Posted by Snakes_on_a-Plane View Post
I have a couple side questions to rack or non-rack system. I am getting ready to build my own rack and I see most people use "heat tape". I've gone to every local pet store and hardware stores in town and no one has them. Ive looked online and I've found ppl that sell it by the foot and comes in 3, 4, 11, and 12 inches wide. What width do most ppl use on their racks? Do you run one stripe of heat tape throughout the entire rack, or start a new one for each row? This is the first time building a rack little alone I've never seen a home made on before. Are there any tips or tricks to make it more efficient and easy to build? Any idea are greatly appreciated! Thanks
For heat tape width, it depends on the size of the tub. Most people recommend between 1/4 to 1/2 the width of your tub. I use 6" for my hot spot and am ordering 12" to bump up the temps on the cool side, since my room's ambient temps are not very consistent (they dropped to 72 the other night and I just about had a heart attack). Some people run one big strip of tape through the whole rack, but I like having individual pieces in case of failures or problems with a single level of the rack. Check out the DIY and Caging forums, they're really helpful for building your own rack. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you've started its a pretty rewarding process. I got super frustrated with mine because it was my first DIY type project ever, but looking back it was totally worth it. Like others have said: Measure twice, cut once. Double check everything! Best of luck to you!