Newbie with lighting question

[PacificNWbeardie]

Hey there, can anyone help me with lighting. It gets a bit confusing with all the names, watts, distance, temperature talk.
I have a 20 gallon tank for a juvenile beardie and recently purchased a REPTI ZOO 22" Hood UVB T5 Lamp (24W). So I am confused on the additional lighting I will need. I keep reading about a basking light and my question has to do with what do people recommend and watt as well as type of bulb (ceramic, mercury, etc)
thank you in advance.

 

[smaugthebeardie3756]

Heating is definitely more trial and error finding the right bulb. For your size tank, I would start low (like 50-75W) and move up until you get the temperature on the basking surface to about 110F taken with a digital probe thermometer on the spot that your beardie lays to bask. This will drop to about 95-105 when he gets older and stops growing. Stay away from bulbs that are "Daytime" because they have a coating that is damaging to their eyes, and colored bulbs are also not great and can hurt their eyes. For just an incandescent bulb, the ExoTerra brand intense basking light is good. Ceramic heat emitter is good for nighttime if your temps get below 65F since it doesnt emit any light and won't disrupt your dragon's sleep. I just switched to a deep heat projector instead of a bulb over his basking spot and he really seems to like it. That might be a bit too much for your size tank though, even the smaller 60W. You will definitely want to upgrade that size as he grows though, at bare minimum to a 40 gallon breeder (36"x18"x18") and recommended 120 gallon 4'x2'x2'. When you do upgrade, you will want to get the 10.0 Reptisun bulb for your UVB rather than the 5.0 that hood comes with if you didn't switch already.

 

[PacificNWbeardie]

Heating is definitely more trial and error finding the right bulb. For your size tank, I would start low (like 50-75W) and move up until you get the temperature on the basking surface to about 110F taken with a digital probe thermometer on the spot that your beardie lays to bask. This will drop to about 95-105 when he gets older and stops growing. Stay away from bulbs that are "Daytime" because they have a coating that is damaging to their eyes, and colored bulbs are also not great and can hurt their eyes. For just an incandescent bulb, the ExoTerra brand intense basking light is good. Ceramic heat emitter is good for nighttime if your temps get below 65F since it doesnt emit any light and won't disrupt your dragon's sleep. I just switched to a deep heat projector instead of a bulb over his basking spot and he really seems to like it. That might be a bit too much for your size tank though, even the smaller 60W. You will definitely want to upgrade that size as he grows though, at bare minimum to a 40 gallon breeder (36"x18"x18") and recommended 120 gallon 4'x2'x2'. When you do upgrade, you will want to get the 10.0 Reptisun bulb for your UVB rather than the 5.0 that hood comes with if you didn't switch already.

thanks for theadvice!