heat a 55 gallon aquarium

hi we just lost our dragon today.....and i plan on getting another in the next couple months and i have a few questions..our aquarium is 55 gallons

i plan on changing to the repti carpet substrate......what is a good heat lamp or bulb to help heat one side of my aquarium to 110 and the other to around 80? and what is a good brand of thermometer? will any humidity gauge work?

Hello,

I'm so sorry to hear you lost your beardie.

With a 55 gallon tank you could use a 100 watt halogen flood light bulb for your heat and a ReptiSUN 10.0 fluorescent tube UVB. Try to get the UVB light as long as possible to cover as much of the length of the tank as possible. Your other alternative is to get a 100 watt MVB(mercury vapor bulb),which is both UVB and heat. The Megaray and the Trex mvb's are great bulbs. It will also depend on the temps in your house as to whether you may need to add any additional heat to keep temps up.

As for measuring your temps...go with a digital thermometer with wire and a probe end. Walmart carries a real good one called ACURITE, they are $12 and you can find them in the section where they have the home thermometers. That particular thermometer will give you a reading for your basking spot, cool side and the humidity.

Hope this helps.

Dawn

Hello, i am so sorry to hear that your bearded dragon died.

Ok let me get right down to what you need
for a 55 gallon tank i just got my self yesterday at countrymax they said that for something to put on the floor of your cage they said calcium sand no other kind of sand because when they eat crikets they can get the sand in there mouth so only calcium sand. For your heating of the tank you should get aleast 3 regluar 8 1/2 size fixture and you should get a uav strip lamp to for one fixture you should put a night lamp that you turn on at night that is red and should only be 50-75 watts for night and and for the other two fixtures one should have a 130-150 watt bulb and the other last fixture a 80-100 watt bulb and your uav is very imporant because it gives the bearded dragon calcium that he/she needs and the uav bulb should be about 30-35 watts

that would be all you will need for heating hope you have fun with your new one

p.s make sure one side is aleast 100 degrese and the other about anywhere from 80-90

Gaje

In response to the previous poster let me say this...we do not reccomend using any sand as a substrate for bearded dragons,especially babies due to the sand causing impaction. Baby beardies have a kink in their digestive tract which makes it much harder for them to pass the sand, it can build up causing impaction, which is a risk not worth taking. Not only that, but sand can also harbor bacteria. Even with daily sifting/cleaning of the sand it is very hard to get all of the excretements from your beardie out of the sand. There are so many other suitable substrates out there that are much safer for beardies. You can use paper towel, non adhesive shelf liner, reptile carpet or tile(which alot of people including myself use).

Like I said in my previous post all you need is the ReptiSun 10.0 fluorescent tube UVB and the heat bulb. You will probably have to figure out what wattage bulb(for heat/basking) you will need by experimenting with different watt bulbs to get your temps just right. You may need a lower watt bulb on the cool side if you cannot maintain your temps. Alot of times it also depends on the temps in your house.

Please do not use any colored lights at night. Beardies prefer total darkness to sleep. The colored bulbs keep them from getting proper sleep, which can make them lethargic during the day.

At night a beardies temps can get as low as 65 degrees in their tank. If the temps fall below 65, then what you will need is a CHE(ceramic heat emitter),these produce NO light, only heat.

If you will be getting a baby beardie, their temps for basking should range between 105-110 degrees, with the cool side ranging between 80-85 degrees.

Dawn

I have a 55 gallon and I use a 75 watt tight beam for the basking end and a house bulb for the cool side, keeps the temps just right!