Help with cage light setup, I think we have it all wrong

[Ann404]

So I'm really looking for some advice here. I have read and read the different sites on lights. The pet store tells me it's fine, but it's not setup how I'm reading. However since we built this cage, I'm not sure what to do.
I'm looking at Sunblaster 904296 NanoTech T5 High Output Fixture Reflector, 24" and paring it with a Zoo Med 26061 Reptisun 10.0 T5-Ho Uvb 24W Fluorescent Lamp. I know for here that's a good combo. But here's my problem. To mount this inside the enclosure it would be much lower then the basking light. Making it hard to heat up a spot to 100 degrees and keeping a safe distance from such a powerful uvb. What should I do? My thought is to go with the t8, that has less output. But seems wrong too.
My setup is a wood cage with screen top except over light there is quarter inch wire, plexiglas front, cage is 48x18x20high. I currently have che heater for basking with a auto thermostat set to 100 degrees, and a back up thermometer all tie wrapped to his rock. See pics. Zoo Med Repti Sun 5.0 compact on 12 hour timer is next to the che heater. I have two thermometers at the bottom. I cant get the humidity low enough either. You can see the dehumidifier I put in the cage, but not helping stays 40-45%. Also we have a small fan to pull the heat down, and I kind of wonder if the noise is bothering him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Ann

 

[CooperDragon]

That's a good UVB combo and should sit about 10-12'' above the main basking area. I'd probably lower the basking area so it's at the right distance and you can set the T5 either along the front or back of the tank top which will create a gradient backward or forward in the tank. You may need to adjust the basking light you're using to get appropriate temps at the adjusted basking spot distance. I'd turn off the 5.0 uvb light as those aren't very powerful and it's probably not doing any good.

 

[Ann404]

That's a good UVB combo and should sit about 10-12'' above the main basking area. I'd probably lower the basking area so it's at the right distance and you can set the T5 either along the front or back of the tank top which will create a gradient backward or forward in the tank. You may need to adjust the basking light you're using to get appropriate temps at the adjusted basking spot distance. I'd turn off the 5.0 uvb light as those aren't very powerful and it's probably not doing any good.

Thanks you so much for helping me. So then it's totally ok to lower his platform to only 8inch from the ground (cage is only 20inch high). Which I probably wouldn't mind because he did miss and fall once. I thought it was important to have the basking area up off the floor?

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah definitely. You can even have just a flat piece of stone as a basking area. They do like to climb so it's good to put in a driftwood branch or something, but your basking area doesn't need to be elevated much and can be just a few inches up if you'd like. My main basking spot is about 6'' off the ground of my 18'' tall tank. I leave the top off though so I can suspend the lights above the tank to give more room.

 

[Ann404]

Yeah definitely. You can even have just a flat piece of stone as a basking area. They do like to climb so it's good to put in a driftwood branch or something, but your basking area doesn't need to be elevated much and can be just a few inches up if you'd like. My main basking spot is about 6'' off the ground of my 18'' tall tank. I leave the top off though so I can suspend the lights above the tank to give more room.

Ok I went ahead and got the the uvb light, and just a regular basking light. I think I see a good way to hook it all up. Just one more thing, right now the humidity is too high. The little fan I have helps, but with this new setup, it wont be able to pull much heat down. How do we adjust the humidity? I tried this little dehumidifier, it just has absorbing silica in it. But it's not doing much. I know the basking area that he stays in is low like 25%, but the rest of the tank stays between 35-45%, sometimes hitting close to 50%. How do you keep it down throughout the tank? Again thanks, ann

 

[CooperDragon]

The humidity is fine. Their natural habitat has areas that go up into the 60% range. Generally anything 30-60% is fine give or take a bit. I don't worry about humidity unless it feels really humid to me in the room.

 

[Ann404]

The humidity is fine. Their natural habitat has areas that go up into the 60% range. Generally anything 30-60% is fine give or take a bit. I don't worry about humidity unless it feels really humid to me in the room.

Thanks, with the dehumidifier, it stays in the 30s, to 40s if really humid, south Louisiana. He seems healthy, but I'm still trying to figure out how to set the lights up. I totally regret the full screen doors on top. Limits how you can do things and let's out way too much heat. I wish people post their cage builds on here. Like a dedicated thread. Could really help new beardie owners.

 

[CooperDragon]

There is a very large enclosure photo sharing thread here https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=66704&start=2685