New Tank - Heat Issues Etc...

[slacker13]

We have had our new beardie for 3 days now, he is only about 5 inches but I am not sure of the age. I bought him at the local pet store. True to fashion I jumped into this without researching first and basically purchased a Exo-Terra complete set that comes with lights, rocks, water bowl etc... Well they talked me into a $24.00 bulb that turned out to be useless. Max temp was 80 degrees so I went back and added a second bulb which did not raise the temp at all. So instead of buying more lights I purchased another heat guage so I could test the temps all over the aquarium and even in the low part of the tank underneath the light I was only getting 83 degrees. I went back and now purchased a basking spot lamp and after about 30 minutes I am getting max temp of 88 degrees only under the basking lamp.

Here is my setup:
24" x 18" x 24" Exo Terra Aquarium
5.5 inch basking lamp with a 50W Sun Glo Neodymium bulb
The light that came wit Exo Tera kit is running 2 bulbs a Repti Glo 2.0 Compact
Full Spectrum Terrarium Lamp and a Repti Glo 10.0 Compact
Full Spectrum Terrarium Lamp

I am just not getting the temp readings that I should. I live in Florida and do have the house pretty cold but this setup is in my daughters room where she shuts her AC vents. Any suggestions? Thanks for any help you may provide.

 

[duke11]

Hi, I would get rid of your compact bulbs immediately. They are very harmful to your beardie. Another suggestion would be to use an ordinary house bulb as your heat source instead of fancy reptile bulbs. I think household bulbs even work better. I am using a household 40 watt halogen bulb and it gets my temps to about 100º, which is perfect for my Duke. Instead of the other UVBs you have, I would buy a reptiSUN 10.0 tube uvb light. Not a reptiGLO a reptisun. Most reptiglos are dangerous (except the reptiglo 8, which got discontinued). I would recommend a MVB bulb too, if you only wanted 1 bulb instead of a bulb and a tube, but your enclosure is too small. You need at least a 40 gallon breeder tank if you want to invest in a MVB (which emits heat and light). Although you said you have a sunglo, which I believe is a MVB. My last suggestion would be to get a temperature gun or a digital w/probe thermometer to measure your basking temperatures, if you're not doing so already. They are much more accurate than gauge thermometers, that can be many degrees off. You can find digital w/probe thermometers at places like Target or Walmart in the outdoor weather section. Good luck and I hope this helps!

 

[slacker13]

Ok, so just to clarify. My basking lamp is ok. The coil bulbs are going to be thrown away and I can replace them with 60 Watt Bulbs until I get a reptiSUN 10? Is that correct?

On another note, this should be a lesson for buying anyhting they tell you to buy at a pet store. Those two crap and harmful bulbs were over $50 and I am basically tossing them in the trash. Thats half of what I would pay for a very nicely used 55 Gallon Tank.

Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.

 

[duke11]

You're very welcome. I'm sorry that the petstore employees tricked you into buying those bad bulbs. The reptisun should help a lot. I'd recommend buying it off this site: http://petmountain.com/. You can get it for a whole lot cheaper there than at a petstore. If you need a cheap fixture, go to Home Depot and get one, or Lowes. I got mine at the petstore (it's the kind they use for fish) and I realized they're a lot cheaper at home improvement stores.

Is your basking light the sunglo or is it an ordinary bulb? Also, it helps to play around with different bulbs you might have in your closet. The 40 watt bulb worked for me because it was an outdoor halogen (oops, i thought it was an indoor one). It burned out today so I found a 75 watt household floodlight, which got my temps at the right degree. Good luck!