# first background build(its no tomcannon build!)



## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

heres some pics of my progress so far
viv stripped and cleaned:









poly in and basking spot built:









little lad helping me out:









names built into the wall:









carved the walls:









first layer of grout brought to you by stell, ha ha. not staying this colour it will have two layers of ivy grout on top of this:









thats it so far, next layer going on hopefuly tomorrow so will ad pics when i can


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

Looking brilliant mate! Really good!  can't wait to see the ivy colour on it!


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Haha, love the name of the thread! Looks really good mate, really like the built in thermometer, you going to do something similar to hide the probe cable? I have two probes in mine, bet you can't find at least one of them!!!

The names look wicked too, keep the pics coming!


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## crisscoyy1973 (Oct 26, 2012)

Looking good mate :2thumb: doing a great job... Like to see the can of stella, is that getting built into the background somewhere lol.. just joking, cant wait for the next episode..


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

Thanks lads,Tom what page is the final pics of your build il have a look see if I can spot them, any suggestions on hiding the probe but still getting the temp. The wire goes behind the back piece and comes out the corner.also need to order Arcadia t5 uv!


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Bennewell said:


> Thanks lads,Tom what page is the final pics of your build il have a look see if I can spot them, any suggestions on hiding the probe but still getting the temp. The wire goes behind the back piece and comes out the corner.also need to order Arcadia t5 uv!


I honestly don't know quite where but there are images of were I cut the grooves for the cables in the floor. One probe is at the front left of the floor and the second hiding behind the rocks at the right. Unfortunately you obviously can't totally cover the probe. I made grooves in the floor as a path for the cable and pushed the cable in to the floor, this then gets grouted over. The probe has to stay above the surface but I made a probe shape groove in the floor so it sits pretty flush.


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

Il dig the wire into the floor then thanks


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

first layer of ivy grout went on last night, this is how it locks this morning:


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## crisscoyy1973 (Oct 26, 2012)

Looking goooooood :2thumb:


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

crisscoyy1973 said:


> Looking goooooood :2thumb:


Thanks mate


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## Goobs (Nov 20, 2010)

tomcannon said:


> I made grooves in the floor as a path for the cable and pushed the cable in to the floor, this then gets grouted over. The probe has to stay above the surface but I made a probe shape groove in the floor so it sits pretty flush.



What if you have a problem with the stat/thermometer and need to remove the probe?


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Goobs said:


> What if you have a problem with the stat/thermometer and need to remove the probe?


Then I'm screwed! Haha. Nah, I had taken the thermometer apart before installing it in the viv to take a look and it would be quite easy to desolder the probes from the main thermometer unit so I would just replace this and continue with the old probes. If one of the probes fails then that is an issue but I'm not sure if that is even possible? I always have the infra red temp gun anyway so worst case scenario the thermometer would just become a pretty useless clock!


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

I somehow missed the update with the ivy grout. Looks good, subtle but I like it. Any update mate?


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

tomcannon said:


> I somehow missed the update with the ivy grout. Looks good, subtle but I like it. Any update mate?


not done anything else yet been realy busy with work but t5 uv will be here tomorrow so once thats in another layer of ivy will be goin on.may try and paint the groves but still un sure.


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## rexob (Sep 1, 2012)

looking very good mate. :2thumb:


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

Uv and halogen lamp turned up tonight looks 100x better in the flesh.
Just uv on:









Uv and halogen lamp on:


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## Manic Marley (Apr 21, 2012)

Like I keep saying on other threads I'm starting mine soon :lol2: as I have a plinth like this on the front bottom lol2: you know what I mean) I'm putting my dimmers thermostat on that so you can't see it when looking in


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

Mine will be living on the outside its just there doin some temp testing.what will be in the viv? Not worryed they may stand on the dial and move it?


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Manic Marley said:


> Like I keep saying on other threads I'm starting mine soon :lol2: as I have a plinth like this on the front bottom lol2: you know what I mean) I'm putting my dimmers thermostat on that so you can't see it when looking in


On the inside (or have I read that wrong)? If it is on the inside, I'd have a rethink, especially if its a habistat or other dimmer with an easy to turn knob as your beardie will be knocking it all over the shop and will alter the temp output!


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

tomcannon said:


> On the inside (or have I read that wrong)? If it is on the inside, I'd have a rethink, especially if its a habistat or other dimmer with an easy to turn knob as your beardie will be knocking it all over the shop and will alter the temp output!


Think putting on the inside is a bad idea, Tom how well do your halogens heat the warm end?


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Bennewell said:


> Think putting on the inside is a bad idea, Tom how well do your halogens heat the warm end?


They heat it fine mate. I haven't tried spot bulbs in this viv but I'd imagine they're pretty similar.


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

It's being a right pain in the arse to get right, get the basking spot to around 105-110, but warm is only getting to 76! Think this will take some setting up!


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Bennewell said:


> It's being a right pain in the arse to get right, get the basking spot to around 105-110, but warm is only getting to 76! Think this will take some setting up!


I do have the two halogens though remember. Possibly try increasing the distance between lamp and basking spot (although that looks like a difficulty in your setup). This will mean the halogen will be getting up to higher temps than before to get the basking spot temp, this should then increase the ambient. If you can't do this, try a different wattage bulb, what wattage is the one your using now. I wouldn't worry too much about hot side ambient temp (although 76 is a fair bit lower than I'd like) its more important to get the basking temp and cold end temp spot on so he can thermo regulate appropriately.


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## Manic Marley (Apr 21, 2012)

tomcannon said:


> On the inside (or have I read that wrong)? If it is on the inside, I'd have a rethink, especially if its a habistat or other dimmer with an easy to turn knob as your beardie will be knocking it all over the shop and will alter the temp output!


I mental the probe not the unit:lol2: I will fix the probe to the inside of the bottom plinth and the digital thermometers at either end in the floor like you have though I can only spot your hot end one


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## tomcannon (Jan 2, 2008)

Manic Marley said:


> I can only spot your hot end one


Have a free like, pressed the wrong button! :lol2: 

Mwwhahaha! It's hiding behind the rocks on the right at the front, out of view. :2thumb:


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

tomcannon said:


> I do have the two halogens though remember. Possibly try increasing the distance between lamp and basking spot (although that looks like a difficulty in your setup). This will mean the halogen will be getting up to higher temps than before to get the basking spot temp, this should then increase the ambient. If you can't do this, try a different wattage bulb, what wattage is the one your using now. I wouldn't worry too much about hot side ambient temp (although 76 is a fair bit lower than I'd like) its more important to get the basking temp and cold end temp spot on so he can thermo regulate appropriately.


It's not hard to move the light, I moved it back last night but then struggled to get it to temp on the basking spot! I've now got stat probe just off from basking spot it's hold temp at the basking spot but as the ambient temp is rising slowly the basking spot is coming down!


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

Finally got round to the final layer of grout! Hopefully they will be in here at weekend


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

And here they are in it, plants have been orded will be here in a couple of weeks


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

couple of things have changed since they went in the viv.got rid of the halogen bulb put in a reflector bulb also changed where the light fitting was and add a few little fake plants.
















also have got another dragon (fire tiger morph hes a little stunner) so thats 2 more backgrounds to do!


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## Manic Marley (Apr 21, 2012)

Looks really good :2thumb:


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

Only just read your comment, thanks


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## BGB (Aug 8, 2010)

Looks great that mate :2thumb:

I've got 2 fat tails and thinking about doing a custom background.

Any advice and tips what to do and not to do?

Cheers

Tone


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

hi This is a great build that is starting to really take on a feel of its own.

May I make some suggestions to make it even more effective for you.

from your images the right hand side of the viv has the higher shelves. this should be your hot end ranther than the left with the lower shelves. Self regualtion relies on the animals being able to self regulate thier own exposure between heat and high strength light and cool and shade.

So I would suggest moving teh heating to the center of the right above the highest shelf and moving the T5 towards the right also so that the lighting starts in the hot/basking end and drops into shade at the cool end.

This is the light and shade method and will allow good self regulation as in the wild.

great job though!

john




Bennewell said:


> couple of things have changed since they went in the viv.got rid of the halogen bulb put in a reflector bulb also changed where the light fitting was and add a few little fake plants.
> image
> image
> also have got another dragon (fire tiger morph hes a little stunner) so thats 2 more backgrounds to do!


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

BGB said:


> Looks great that mate :2thumb:
> 
> I've got 2 fat tails and thinking about doing a custom background.
> 
> ...


Hi mate sorry not replied not looked in this section for a while. the one bit of advise would be take your time, don't rush. Make sure you start a thread when you start.


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## Bennewell (Apr 5, 2012)

Arcadiajohn said:


> hi This is a great build that is starting to really take on a feel of its own.
> 
> May I make some suggestions to make it even more effective for you.
> 
> ...


Hi John, thanks for the comments. Noticed my c**k up to late into the build and the shelfs are jointed to the back so unable to move them also my male goes up there to sleep! Just a quick question how close can a beardie get to a t5 bulb before its unsafe? I now have a log stood up in three vivs that are stacked to make it look like its grown threw all three but one of the beardies climbs the log, head is above the bulb but his back is 10mm from the bulb, sorry for the long post


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