Lighting help

Evbay · Jan 16, 2018

So I’m going to be getting my first bearded dragon soon and of course I’m nervous. I have a UVB light, but I’m not sure if I’ll need it mounted into the tank or if it’s fine on top.

Right now I have a T5 Reptisun 5.0 bulb in the tank and I have a 10.0 waiting on the side if I need to switch it over. I’ve read that you can have the hood on the top of the screen, but it’ll reflect half of the UVB lighting. Is my setup fine? Should I switch over to the stronger bulb?

My second question is can anyone recommend a better basking bulb? The one I have only heats up the tank to about 85 degrees farienheight.

My tank is about 36in Long x 16in wide x 18in high.

VenusAndSaturn · Jan 16, 2018

The t5 5.0 is basically the same strength as the t8 10.0 so make sure to keep it mounted inside at around 6-8 inches from the basking spot. You could use the stronger bulb inside or outside, if you currently have your 5.0 outside and cant mount it inside then you need to switch to the stronger bulb.

As for heating usually a 75-100 watt regular bright basking bulb works well. Personally I use one 100 watt CHE and then a 50 watt bright basking bulb to get my temps to 100-110. The 50 watt does add heat so it helps, but it also helps creates a more brighter basking spot which is also beneficial to the beardies.

CooperDragon · Jan 18, 2018

Yeah 6-8'' for the 5.0 but I'd upgrade to the 10.0 or Arcadia 12% when you can. They produce UVB closer to levels of mid morning sunlight. I use a PAR38 halogen flood light for basking and it works well in a tank about that size. They work well on dimmers too so you can fine tune the output once you find a wattage that works well. I'd start with a 60 or 70w bulb and move up from there as needed.

Lighting help

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