Need help with wine fridge incubator

[euphuistical]

So my parents' wine fridge broke in the move. The seals are fine, it just doesn't run any more so I've started to convert it in to an incubator. I want to get the maximum space out of it and I need advice on the placement of the fan and power strip.

Here are two pics of the inside:





Just to check how it held temps I put the heat tape at the top, I really don't know a good place for it. And I also don't know how much to use. I have 3 1 foot pieces and 1 18inch piece. I think the 1 foot piece would be enough.

Should I use the racks? With the racks I can fit in 5-6 shoebox sized tubs (the 6th depends if it would be too close to the heat tape).

So, please give me any suggestion on where to place the heat tape and the fan. I am also debating on using the shelves or not. I could probably fit 6 or 7 (maybe even 8, I don't have enough boxes on hand to check at the moment) if I just stacked the tubs on top of each other. Is there a down side to that?

I guess I am also confused about some other things. I was planning on just going substrateless and use the lighting grate and fill the bottom with enough water so it would be just below the eggs and not touching them and then humidity wouldn't really be an issue. Do I have to open them up to provide air on a regular basis?

Is it basically one clutch to a tub or can I put multiple clutches in one tub?

[zombieon3rd]

Only a suggestion, But I would run the heat tape down the back, Top to bottom. Then mount the fan at the top. Keeping all of your wires feeding thru one hole. Glad to see what you have so far. Thanks for sharing the photos. Great job on not waiting to the last second.

[euphuistical]

Only a suggestion, But I would run the heat tape down the back, Top to bottom. Then mount the fan at the top. Keeping all of your wires feeding thru one hole. Glad to see what you have so far. Thanks for sharing the photos. Great job on not waiting to the last second.

Ya think down the back on the top spot or sort of going over that hump in the middle?

Also need my question about number of eggs to shoebox question resolved.

Thanks

[Oxylepy]

! clutch per shoebox. And have boxes large enough to house varying sizes. Don't try and separate the eggs, leave them as one big group.

[euphuistical]

And what about stacking the bins? Or should I use the shelves?


Also, when going substrateless if a bit of water happens to slosh up on the eggs is that very dangerous? I could see it happening when I burp the tubs each week and needed to move or rotate them for some reason.

[twistedtails]

I use the ziplock tubs and they work perfect! I use the equal parts vermiculite to water by weight and that in combination with the ziplock tubs has proved to be a great method. As for the incubator I would use at the very LEAST 2 foot of the 11". You could run it down the back and on the top also(I myself would try and get 3 foot in there). It is easier to control hotter temps in the incubator than it is to heat it with the lack of power(you will over work your heat tape, and that is not risk that I would like to take personally). Hope this helps you.

[takagari]

! clutch per shoebox. And have boxes large enough to house varying sizes. Don't try and separate the eggs, leave them as one big group.

This is personal opinion. I know of many breeders who seperate.

if you catch the clutch on the day of laying, separating them is fine, any longer though and leave them as is. just do not rotate them. Err.. I remember hearing not to rotate the eggs but i'm not sure how much merit that holds. I do believe someone on here tried it one time, do not remember the result.


Shawn