Help- New habitat lighting

[SteffMathes]

Hello everyone. I moved our beardie, Lucy from her 20gal to a 4'x2'x12" viv we customized from a display case. It has glass along the length, sliding glass doors in the front, and wood sides for the width. I installed a 1/4 metal screen on the top and layed textured ceramic tile for the flooring. I used weather strips to avoid gaps in the doors. She has been recovering from MBD, but is doing fantastic. I don't want to ruin her progress, so I am trying to make sure her lighting is optimal. I have a Powersun MVB 100 watt bulb in a 10" dome with ceramic socket (new), and an 18" reptisun 10.0 (3 mo old) and a 75watt basking bulb from her other tank. I set it up last night with the mercury vapor bulb on the far left heated side with flat basking rocks due to the depth the of the tank. She has a higher basking area outside of the direct rays of the MVB. I know the UVB is really concentrated in a small area with these, so I put her 18in 10.0 in the middle/cool side area towards the back of the tank, still giving her a large area of shade, as well as three areas she can escape under to get out of the rays. Is using both UVB's going to give her too much? Even though the instructions on the MVB bulb said she can be within 12 in of it, should I suspend it higher above the tank? Also, I am concerned with the temperatures, they seem too low. However, I need to get a more accurate thermometer to check. I have been using the dial ones, which I have read are not very good. If the MVB is not providing enough heat for such a large enclosure, should I use her basking light in the middle of the tank as long as the cool side remains? At least until I can afford a CME... Any advice would be very much appreciated, thank you!

Here is a pic of her current set up with the MVB and reptisun 10.0

 

[diamc]

Hi, that's a very nice looking setup. Can tell that you gave it a lot of thought.

You're right the MVB needs to be a minimum of 12" to your beardie while in the basking spot. It's very important that you get either an infrared temperature gun or digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end so that you know you have accurate readings. So it would be hard for us to advise you about needing to use another heat bulb until we find out what the true temps are. If you find out they are too low, then yes, you can use another heat bulb alongside the MVB if needed.

Once you get the accurate readings, you will want to aim for a basking SURFACE temp of between 100 and 105, an ambient of between 85 and 90 and a cool side temp between 78 to 82.

Since the tank is so big, having both the MVB & Repti-Sun 10.0 tube shouldn't be a concern.

Lucy is very pretty and a very lucky beardie.