Lighting a 20L

im not sure where to find the answer and im getting a little lost trying to read the newbies lighting form so I just wanted to ask I have a set up but I still have time to return things that are not right im a little confused

I have a 20L with repti mats and a basking rock and bowls and what not but the lighting is my confusion I currently have a tube but its the outdated one and dosent have a uv bulb so I got a reptisun bulb not the tube serving as my uvb I will replace it soonish but for now that's what I have I also have 2 other dome lights both red bulbs 100 watt and a 75 watt its not getting as hot as I would like but im thinking its because the mats haven't gone in yet and just the glass tanks not holding the heat cuz its empty otherwise. I do live in a basement so my room chills around 65ish at night with the hardware I have now 2 domes what would you all suggest are the two red bulbs good enough or what should I get other bulbs what kind of wattage is suggested they sit ontop of the screen cover of my tank so about 8 inches above the basking spot. I have to amazon order today to get it here sooner than later as the beardie has arrived hes a rescue he was damaged in transit (missing his front right foot some toes on the left n a bit of his tail) and needed a home as soon as he completed a good solid shed which he did and hes doing great. he was climbing all over the rock and looking around hes eating crickets meal worms and veggies so hes good I just wanna get his lighting right. I switched my tank from allies (forest) to desert so its a little new to me any help is appreciated

Thank you (I can go to a hardware store as well bonus points if I can use lower wat bulbs that don't need ceramic sockets one dome I have does the others are on the way but if I can return them fo non ceramic to save a bit of money bonus points

The 20L is a tougher one to manage heat and lighting due to it's smaller size. How big is the dragon? I use a 20L for my travel tank so I can give you specs based on that. I have an adjustable lamp stand to hold the basking light. I use a 90w halogen flood light in a dome fixture (it has a ceramic base but they aren't really that expensive online) and that gets the basking area to 100f sitting at about 18'' up. I use a T8 slimline 18'' fixture w/reflector and a T8 Zilla Desert 50 (The T8 ReptiSun 10.0 is also very good) for UVB and sit that across the top on the basking side and it produces a fair amount of UVB exposure in the tank. That should do it for the basics. If you can provide photos of your enclosure and dragon I may be able to help with more specifics if you'd like.

He's small he was injured so he looks smaller due to a good chunk of tail is gone I have two clamp lamps I read threw a post and figured a decent set up its pretty bare right now 100w small halogen flood gets it about 100 on his rock threw the screen the other lamp has a 60 something watt n it's about 80-85 on the cool side n I have a t8 Zilla dessert fifty mounted under the lid no idea how to attach a photo here

That sounds pretty good. One 100w basking light should do the trick though. The Zilla 50 is a nice bulb for that enclosure based on my experience. You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and then post them to your thread using the XIMG button.

My set up

My guy side

My guy front on

That looks good. Like I said, maybe just have the basking light on one side and let the other side cool off a bit to allow for some self regulation of temps. I'd stick with your 100w on one side and double check to make sure it hits 100 on that side and cheat the UVB light over to that side as well and just let the other side stay cool. I also suggest adding some hides/shade area to allow self regulation of UV exposure. Poor little guy does have some nips but looks happy and healthy to me. Nice weight and has the circle patterns on his back like my Dundee =)

I just picked him up Friday so I'm building some little things from Popsicle sticks I like to build ms it will give him some places to hide I just wanted him out of the place he was he's a fast one n likes to throw his salad. I'll move the light over a bit I have dual thermometers on the hot side the tank one reads around 90-95 depending on the
Time of day the one on his rock bounces around 95-100 it's a new light I'll watch it more tomorrow the cool side hangs around 80-82 I've noticed the lights have timers so they kick on and off for the day cycle now I'm just trying to find the best food options crickets are a pain to get daily or keep long term so I'm looking at protien

Popsicle stick houses and climbs should do nicely. Are those stick on thermometers all you're using? If so, I suggest picking up an infrared temp gun or at least a digital thermometer with a metal probe to get some nice accurate readings. Accurate temp readings are critical, especially in such a small space so it's worth the investment ($20 or so on Amazon for a temp gun and $12 or so for digital w/probe online or in a local pet store). The timers are a huge help with providing a light cycle that mimic's the sunlight as well. As far as feeders go, crickets are OK but I find them a pain to keep. I started a dubia roach colony and love it because of how easy they are to take care of but they do take some time to establish (you can order them and feed them off like crickets too if you want but it's more expensive that way). Phoenix Worms are another good bug for a young one but they are small and can get expensive to feed regularly so they're good as part of a balanced diet.

I'll pick one up as soon as I can kinda broke the bank to get the bulb n fixture for uv. My family would never fly for the roach colony and honestly they creep me out the ppl that pointed me towards beardies told me they mainly ate veggies neglected to mention as babies that eat mainly bugs so not my high point but he's a funny guy much more interactive than my allies ( northern alligator lizards) so I'm going to look into repti worms for now just storing them long term will be the issue but I can make a weekly a cricket run just gotta figure out how many he eats at once so I can get enough to last the week. While I try n figure out exactly what to get he's my first bigger reptile

Yeah that's the rub, they do eat a lot of bugs a little guys because they need the protein to support growth. They turn to mainly veges at 12-18mo or so but before that they can eat a TON. You may want to set up a big rubbermaid bin and order the crickets online in bulk (1,000 should last a month or so) because it will be WAY cheaper than getting them in small batches from the pet store. As you mentioned, you can supplement the crickets with repti worms and others like silk worms. Variety is a good thing for them.

my petstore actually is pretty cheap for crickets comparable price to online if yobuy enough tey go don to 3-4 cents a piece so weekly runs is better especially now since he's only doing like 6-7 mediums a day now that he's off the smalls that he was doing like a dozen so a weeks worth is only lie 3$ at my place so ill do that until he starts turning into a bottomless pit. then ill order in bulk.ill be barrowing a thermometer with probe from my brother to check the temps better than the stick on thermometers. thanks for all the help.