I have had my baby beardie about a week, and the hood for my 24 inch reptisun 10.0 bulb is supposed to arrive today. (I have had him on an 18 inch reptiglow because that was all I could put my hands on immediately). My reptisun is NOT the high output, but the regular T8 bulb. I ordered the Zilla slimline hood to put it in. My question is; Can I put it on top of the screen lid or do I have to mount it inside? I have a 40 gallon breeder tank with this lid: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/imagitarium-50-gallon-terrarium-screen
I have a large piece of grapewood as a basking spot and he can get pretty close to the light, even with it on top of the screen.
I got this figured out. Unbeknownst to me, the 24” Zilla hood only holds an 18 inch bulb. This info was nowhere in anything I read. It is going back. I bought a $9 24 inch black light fixture at Walmart, swapped the bulb for th reptisun 10.0, and zip tied it to the inside of the screen top, problem solved!
Does the fixture you picked up have a reflector? If not, I would get a T8 reflector for it to concentrate all of the light downward. With a reflector it will provide the best output at about 6-8'' above the basking area.