Like I said my impatience makes me do things and make decisions that at the end are not the right ones, but you have to understand that I had a new mansion for my bd girl and I couldn't wait any longer. This was my odisey , first I bougth the powersun mvb 100watts and because they have to be facing straight down and I haven't found a screen top for my 75 galon tank I couldn't use it Ialso tryied with a clamp and it wasn't enough heat. So guess what , I went back to the herp hobby shop and changed the mvb bulb for the 48" reptisun 10 to use it with the fluoresent lamp that came with the tank , the only thing is that I had to take the glass top completely off the tank because the glass wouldn't allow the uvb light to pass. Now I have the uvb tube and a 150 watts basking lamp but the basking area goes only up to 98 degrees. Because there is a difference in price for the change of the mvb for the uvb I have a credit that I'm going to use for the screen top that they are ordering this week for me. this is my setup for now ,It will be completed when I get the screen top and when I get the right temps for the basking area.
Good call with the ReptiSun 10.0 instead of the PowerSun. I haven't ever used a PowerSun, but I hear they aren't good for beardies' eyes.
Here's a thought, although I know you already ordered a screen, but you can use a $2 window screen from Home Depot that is big enough to cover the top of the cage, or even bigger, and rest it on top of the cage with something heavy (the lamps will be heavy enough) on top.
98*F is great for a juvie or adult. I'm assuming you have a baby, then.
I bet that wasn't much help; it took me ages to fool with all the heating and I still haven't figured it out. Lucky I have a week to figure things out before my darling boy arrives.
My best advice is to keep at it; fool around with all sorts of lighting/heating combinations and wattages until you get it right. It's a hard process. Don't forget about UTHs and CHEs! They can help a lot towards temp.
Avoid the UTH's (under tank heaters), they can be harmful to BDs. Also, there is nothing wrong with a PowerSun bulb, there are just better Mercury Vapor Bulbs on the market for the same or close to the same price. They aren't harmful, that I have heard, at all. You want your basking temps up around 105-115*, your beardie will kind of let you know where he likes it
Thanks for all your replies, Today a kept an eye on the basking spot and it went up to 102 degrees and she looks more active than when she was on a 20 gallon. My db girl is about 16 inches long and it's funny because it looked like she was inspecting her new house licking every corner of the tank. I am happy because she is enjoying her new home and you could tell she was because she was bright orange and very active. Probably I will try the mvb in the future but for now I'll stick with the reptisun 10 and the 150 watts tight beam basking bulb. I tryed to poste pictures but I'm really bad with computers so I guess I'll try it later.
Thanks, I just bought the tiles but I can't put them because I have to cut a couple of them. Hopefully I'll have the hole setup on wednesday and after that of course I'm going to post another picture.