Lighting Help for Newbies (:

[tinytina78]

Thanks for the great idea. When putting the light inside the cage, I got the light fixture from walmart, do you leave the cover on the bulb or does it need to be off?

 

[Nihilist]

Should a Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB Lamp be as dim or bright as a 5.0 HO? I noticed my light is dimmer than I remember but have had a MVB or yellow basking light on for so long I'm not sure. But I did test my 10.0 vs a 5.0 and they are putting off the same light.

 

[HKzForDayz]

Should a Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB Lamp be as dim or bright as a 5.0 HO? I noticed my light is dimmer than I remember but have had a MVB or yellow basking light on for so long I'm not sure. But I did test my 10.0 vs a 5.0 and they are putting off the same light.

It has been a while since I have had a 5.0 but if my memory serves me correctly, They have either identical or very similar temperatures to the 10.0

 

[Nihilist]

Should a Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB Lamp be as dim or bright as a 5.0 HO? I noticed my light is dimmer than I remember but have had a MVB or yellow basking light on for so long I'm not sure. But I did test my 10.0 vs a 5.0 and they are putting off the same light.

It has been a while since I have had a 5.0 but if my memory serves me correctly, They have either identical or very similar temperatures to the 10.0

Temperatures? What about light output, brightness? I have no way to test how much UVB it is outputting.

 

[HKzForDayz]

Should a Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB Lamp be as dim or bright as a 5.0 HO? I noticed my light is dimmer than I remember but have had a MVB or yellow basking light on for so long I'm not sure. But I did test my 10.0 vs a 5.0 and they are putting off the same light.

It has been a while since I have had a 5.0 but if my memory serves me correctly, They have either identical or very similar temperatures to the 10.0

Temperatures? What about light output, brightness? I have no way to test how much UVB it is outputting.

The shade of a color is called its "Temperature" , used mostly in lighting , ie HID headlights are typically advertised by Temperature.

Basically what I meant, is that I don't remember any visible difference in the light being output by either. I could be wrong though because it has been some time since I have had a 5.0

 

[Nihilist]

Thank you I am a total noob when it comes to this type of stuff. I appreciate your patience with me.

 

[HKzForDayz]

Thank you I am a total noob when it comes to this type of stuff. I appreciate your patience with me.

I probably should have used a different term to get my point across, given that on this forum we use that words more commonly used definition so often :lol: :lol:

I'm just used to having to match up the temperatures of all my home lights through my Philips Hue app to get them to match

 

[Nihilist]

Thank you I am a total noob when it comes to this type of stuff. I appreciate your patience with me.

I probably should have used a different term to get my point across, given that on this forum we use that words more commonly used definition so often :lol: :lol:

I'm just used to having to match up the temperatures of all my home lights through my Philips Hue app to get them to match

Now that actually sounds like fun to me... but I'm a techno geek.

 

[Nihilist]

My second 100w Zoo Med basking bulb just blew out, that's two in 6 months. They are cheap, but do a great job on providing the right amount of heat on the basking side. Should I get another one of these or can someone tell me of a specific halogen bulb that would work better. I am leaning away from halogen because the hood I have that it would have to go in takes up a lot of room where the Zoo Med fits in a a smaller dome I have. But if a halogen light is better, and last longer I am more than willing to get one.

 

[HKzForDayz]

I have had a lot of luck with just getting name brand par38 lights and hooking them up to a lamp dimmer

 

[ruben0311]

Thanks for the great idea. When putting the light inside the cage, I got the light fixture from walmart, do you leave the cover on the bulb or does it need to be off?

hopefully you had this resolved already but you will need to remove the clear cover, otherwise no uvb will penetrate

 

[Nihilist]

I have had a lot of luck with just getting name brand par38 lights and hooking them up to a lamp dimmer

Don't have a dimmer and the par38 lights I am looking up seem to cost twice if not more than regular basking bulbs.

 

[Hannn]

Hey! I have a question. I'm a newbie. I bought a tank from a friend, the dimensions are 48x18x13. I want to get the Zoo med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB Lamp but I don't know what length to get. Is 46" too long? Thanks for the help!

 

[CooperDragon]

22'' is long enough in most cases because it will cast a wide enough beam of UVB across the basking area for your dragon to bask under evenly. Having it only over the basking area will help to create a good gradient so your dragon can seek areas of lower UVB if desired.

 

[HKzForDayz]

Hey! I have a question. I'm a newbie. I bought a tank from a friend, the dimensions are 48x18x13. I want to get the Zoo med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB Lamp but I don't know what length to get. Is 46" too long? Thanks for the help!

That enclosure is not suitable for t5 lighting, if you put t5 lighting in that enclosure, you wouldnt be able to build vertically at all. You UVI levels will be appropriate for basking on ground level, and any higher then that you will reach UVI levels that are too high for bearded dragons. If the enclosure you are getting is truly only 13" in height, I would get t8 lighting myself, but honestly I wouldnt use that enclosure. Not only does a 13" tall enclosure make it hard to get proper UVB gradients and proper TEMP gradients, But it also doesnt provide sufficient space to create and environment that will allow bearded dragons a lot of climbing opportunities. Bearded dragons tend to be semi-arboreal in the wild , so it is best to provide them climbing opportunities if they want them. Most people will say the absolute minimum enclosure space is a 40 gallon, But IMO the smallest they should have is a 36x24x24, unless its an open top enclosure then i think an 18" H enclosure would work but 13" is much too small.