Room 181 and 181a: Reptile and Amphibian Rooms
Room: These two rooms are located one behind the other. They are 20 m² environmental chambers. The rooms are functionally similar. Both have a supply of low and high pressure air, well water, domestic cold water (for cleaning). The sink in each room has a supply of domestic hot and cold water, and deionized water.
The walls, ceiling and fan units are stainless steel. The floor is a special hardened concrete to prevent water penetration. Water drains into a trench in the center of each room. This trench must be cleaned at the same time the room is cleaned.
The door for each room has a covered window built into it to allow inspection of the room without entry. The door covering the window should remain closed at all times while not in use. There is no handle located on the inside of the door. There are no catches to hold the door closed, only a mechanical door closure. There is provision to lock the door. If the door were to be locked while someone was still in the room, a release mechanism is located on the wall inside the room beside the door. Spin the knob until it comes completely off and push on the left side (181) or right side (181a) of the door until it opens.
Temperature control: Air temperature in these rooms ranges from 5°C - 25°C and is controlled by the Argus™ system. Temperatures are fully programable, the air temperature in these rooms follows a diurnal pattern, rising and dropping with the photoperiod. Temperature is monitored by a thermistor located within the room. The Air Temperature Deviation Alarm can be set to activate with as little as ± 1°C change.
Humidity Control: Room 181a has two jets to add a fine mist of water to the room. Humidity is additive only and fine control is not possible at this time.
Power: Each room has eight 115 V electrical circuits. These are located around the perimeter of the room. Each has a duplex ground fault receptacle. If power is lost to a receptacle, check the buttons located in the middle of the receptacle. If one is sticking out, press it back in to reset the power. If power is lost again, report it to Aqualab personnel. A circuit breaker panel is located on the wall outside the chamber. Please do not open this panel without proper authorization.
Lights: These rooms have both fluorescent and incandescent lights in weatherproof fixtures. The rooms have fully programmable photoperiods (i.e., the photoperiod can be programmed to emulate that found at any latitude in the world or any artificial photoperiod that the researcher requires). At “dawn” the incandescent bulbs slowly ramp up to full intensity, then the fluorescent lights turn on sequentially in three steps. At “dusk” the process reverses with the incandescent bulbs slowly ramping off at “sunset”. Photoperiod is monitored by a light sensor located in each room. The Photoperiod Alarm is set to activate if the lights do not turn on or off as the program requires. The lights can be turned on manually from the Argus™ panel located in the hall outside Room 181. An alarm situation will occur if the lights are left on too long.