Night time heat

[cap232profile]

Hi all, I am a new beardie owner of two approx one-month old baby beardies that I've had for 8 days. They are currently housed in a single 80-gal aquarium. 48" long, 18" deep, 22" high. Currently night time in my house can drop to about 64-65F which is right at the hairy edge of their allowable temps. As we head towards Feb and March, we could get to 50 overnight in the room they are located. I purchased a Fluker's Black Nightlight Bulb 100W and hang it approx in the middle of the enclosure. With putting a towel over the top of the tank at night, we seem to maintain a temp of about 70 degrees (read via dial and laser thermometer at 7 am). This is basically the temp of my cool side during the day. Questions)
1) I've read that the infrared can interfere with sleep, which is why I went with the black bulb. Is it ok?
2) Most of the CHE's that I have found say "ceramic infared" heat emitter. Is the infrared cermaic bad?
3) Is this a good bulb? https://www.chewy.com/flukers-ceramic-reptile-heat-emitter/dp/129150?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=Fluker%27s&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6JjgBRDbARIsANfu58F7c1YvdJVz1advpRmGpJsK783MJKtB3ebBCaMoP4RzKePflLT2dSgaAvutEALw_wcB
4) recommendations on a bulb and/or thermostat?

 

[CooperDragon]

The infrared is good. It provides heat overnight without visible light that can disrupt their sleep. Some bulbs are marked as infrared but give off visible red or purple light - they're no good. A ceramic heat emitter is a good choice but they get VERY hot to the touch and can cause burns if not careful. I prefer using a MegaRay heat projector which is similar but doesn't get so hot around the surface. It produces a nice beam of heat across the tank overnight. I use one for my roach enclosure too.

As far as a thermostat goes, you don't need much for a CHE. An on/off or pulse thermostat is fine. If you want to use one for a basking light, you want a dimming thermostat. There are a lot of decent choices available. I use a Herpstat2 that controls my basking light on a dimmer and my heat projector on pulse overnight. It keeps the daytime cool side of the tank 70-73 overnight and the daytime basking area stays around 65-70 during the winter.

 

[cap232profile]

Thanks CooperDragon for the recommendations and taking the time to read! I had been falling into the trap of clicking "buy" and then continue researching to discover I was headed the wrong way! (ie, heat rock, CFL UV-B, ect). I just know over night heat has a high potential to become a problem here and I don't want to freeze my little beardies.