Arcadia mini d3 help

[Winalog1189]

Hello all. I am currently in the process of getting my viv set up with the view to getting a beardie in February. On the advice of the petshop I am using the arcadia mini D3 80w basking bulb, this is the sole source of heat in the viv and so far seems to be giving decent temperatures.

• 81.5°f at the cool end (27.5°C)
• 102.4°f on the basking spot (39.1°C)
• 68°f at night (with no heat source) (20°C)

My issue is that the bulb is currently positioned about 23cm from the basking spot but the box says it should be 40cm.
So my question - is the distance between bulb and beardie purely to do with controlling temperature/protecting beardie from burning itself on the bulb. Or is it to do with the UVB dose that the beardie would get from being too close?

 

[MsCarter]

The recommended distance is usually in reference to the actual exposure to uvb. The bulb you mentioned, if I'm not mistaken, isn't that the type of bulb that just goes inside of a dome fixture? If so I would recommend investing in a tube style uvb fixture when you can. Arcadia Is a great brand and they make a t5 12% bulb that is top notch. This bulb will help spread uvb rays out more in the enclosure instead of directing them into one smaller area.

Hope that may help a little

 

[CooperDragon]

I don't have test results for that bulb, but according to the UV charts on their site, 20-30cm is the optimal basking zone in terms of UVB output (3-6 UVI). If you're getting proper temps at 23cm, then it should be OK. It's hard to tell for sure without using a solarmeter though. The concern I'd have with putting the bulb too close is that the radius of the effective basking area is too narrow. I like to have the basking area be at least the diameter of the length of your dragon to allow for even basking. This goes for both UVB and temperatures. If you're getting a good, wide area of basking level temps (100-110) then it's probably OK. Otherwise I'd switch to a separate UVB and heat source. The Arcadia T5 is top notch as MsCarter mentioned.