Reptile friendly plastic?

Im going to build a greenhouse in about a month ...i would like to know if there is any poly or other matierals the allow uvb threw ..it would make things easier but im creative i will make it work just wondering
 
It really depends if u want to place the uvb light inside the poly or outside....may be use a soft screen made poly combination,to make a see thru green house with natural sunlights too if the weather where u at will allow u to do that:)
 
Various levels of UVA or B are transmitted through different plastics - many even have UV blocking coatings to protect the plastic from UV degradation over time. There are UV transmitting plastic sheets, but the material is very expensive. Look at greenhouse glazing suppliers - Acrylite makes a UV transmitting panel. Be aware that acrylic sheets are flammable, just FYI.
 
Various levels of UVA or B are transmitted through different plastics - many even have UV blocking coatings to protect the plastic from UV degradation over time. There are UV transmitting plastic sheets, but the material is very expensive. Look at greenhouse glazing suppliers - Acrylite makes a UV transmitting panel. Be aware that acrylic sheets are flammable, just FYI.
Very expensive as in $1,000.00 per 4X8 sheet!
 
Very expensive as in $1,000.00 per 4X8 sheet!

Sheesh. I was just looking at all the greenhouse glazing options for a client. They ended up picking a twinwall polycarb. Poly sheet is the only "cheap" option, but there are some amazing new products out there. ETFE is a newer film that has decent UV transmission, I think, but again - super expensive. As more states go the way of Colorado, prices may come down as demand goes up. Apparently, UV is very important in the premium development of certain "crops".
 
Colorado the rocky mountain up n smoke....too bad im a health nut,otherwise,that green house is pretty attempting:rolleyes:
 
Sheesh. I was just looking at all the greenhouse glazing options for a client. They ended up picking a twinwall polycarb. Poly sheet is the only "cheap" option, but there are some amazing new products out there. ETFE is a newer film that has decent UV transmission, I think, but again - super expensive. As more states go the way of Colorado, prices may come down as demand goes up. Apparently, UV is very important in the premium development of certain "crops".
I was looking for UVB transmitting acrylic 1/8" thick, found some in Nevada, transmits above 90%, I think it was $1,150.00 to get 1 sheet to the west coast! I checked all the film types and even though some reps said it transmits UVB when I got the specs it transmitted less than 10%! Just saying you can't trust the factory reps because they don't know! What type of twin wall polycarbonate did you find? I would be interested to investigate the UVB transmission.
 
I built my greenhouse using acrylite alltop double wall acrylic sheet.
http://acrylitebuildingproducts.com...top-uv-transmitting-acrylic-double-skin-sheet
I think they also make a single thickness sheet version. This stuff is amazing, not cheap, but certainly not 1k per panel. I ordered mine directly from Evonic industries in Canada and I think it was about 6.50 per linear foot.
They use this material quite a bit in Europe for greenhouses instead of polycarb, there are some videos on youtube in german that show off the material.

greenhouse.jpg
 
@Garrett - Do you like the Acrylite? What have the UVB readings been after some service life? Holding within the specified ranges? With the cages, do you still use UVB lamps? When I was pricing this for my client, it was all over the place for Acrylite - anywhere from $6 - $15 per SF. Most of the suppliers of commercial greenhouse equipment that I spoke with sold very little of it and it had quite a lead time.

@bobcochran I ended up specifying the Lexan Thermoclear 8mm twinwall polycarb for my client. (super late response, sorry)
 
I have been more that pleased with the performance of this stuff, I'm getting solarmeter readings at about 90% of outside.It's 16mm double pane, so similar if not better insulation that the 5 wall 16mm polycarbonate. It's supposed to last 30 years(!) with minimal yellowing, and has an anti drip coating that prevents droplets forming on the surface. It's only been up since last summer but seems to be doing great. The only gotcha's with this stuff are.. it scratches easily, but most of that happened during installation and me being sloppy. It's heavier than polycarb so you need a good solid frame to hold it up. Also, most greenhouse frame manufacturers don't have experience with this material so it's difficult to mount the panels with standard framing methods normally used with poly. You can't drill holes in it for example. I found a greenhouse company that uses a custom U channel type frame that fits with a little bit of work, you're supposed to mount with a floating gasket type system. I just shoved mine in the u channels and it seems to be doing fine.
Evonik has detailed specs for installation and the type of gaskets you're supposed to use in their literature.
I contacted Evonik in Canada linked on the alltop product page and ordered direct, it took a few weeks and a few back an forth calls to sort things out (this is going to a home? we normally only ship to distributors etc etc.) Looking at my receipt it was 6.50 per ft, with custom cutting costs and about 400 bucks freight shipping, took about 3 weeks to arrive. I eventually got it with some legwork and talking about how it was for chameleons haha :)
Send me a pm and I can forward you the agent I was in contact with if you like.
 
This is what the panels look like installed, it's much more transparent than polycarbonate. Sooooo glad i went this route, it was a pain to figure out but worth it in the end. I'm not using any supplemental lighting at all, the ambient light levels during the day are really impressive even with shade cloth installed above.

outside.jpg

inside.jpg

happy.jpg
 
Wow that's absolutely impressive, can only say I'm filled with jealously lol. Great job it looks amazing, clean well organized. Awesome
 
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