Spock has moved to a 40g breeder, need more heat

[nukeswife]

Hello all,
Over the weekend we surprised our daughter and bought Spock a 40g breeder tank as her Solstice gift and gave it to her early. He's got a reptisun 10.0 UVB tube that's 24" long mounted inside the tank and a 100W exoterra intense heat bulb in a deep dome fixture that hangs about 1/2" off the screen (just enough we we can open the screen without moving the light) but his basking spot is only about 100º and his cool side is about 74º tops. We know it should be a bit warmer, so should we just add another light, we have other domes that came with his original set up, go buy a CHE to add, or should we just go buy at 150W bulb?

He's (we are guessing on the he/she part) still pretty active and eating well, but he's also our first beardie, so we weren't sure if any of the above options for more heat is better than another.

 

[nukeswife]

This is a picture of the set up currently. His lights have been on for about 2 hours this morning and as you can see the cool side is at about 75º

 

[Soulwind]

100 F at the basking point isn't bad. It's not perfect, but it's not bad.

If you feel that there's enough overall light in the tank [especially over on
the cooler side] then I'd consider just getting a CHE (ceramic heat emitter)
and putting it in the middle of the tank for just some general warming overall.

If the light levels seem too dark in the tank as a whole, then just add another
light over towards the cooler side or middle for light and some general heat.
With a "cool side light" you'll want to go for a much lower wattage. I use a 60 watt, normal household incandescent bulb for my cool side lighting, which keeps things nice and comfortable at about 80 F. Your requirements may vary based on the house ambient temps of course.

 

[nukeswife]

Thanks for your input Soulwind. The overall light seems to be ok, but not like his old smaller tank which was bright throughout the whole tank. The cool side in the larger one seems like you'd expect for a place that was shaded by a large tree or something. It's got light, but not bright light. I'll look into putting a small traditional incandescent over there. Does it need to be a certain kind, like clear bulb vs. soft white, vs. bright white?

 

[Sauzo]

The more white, the better. Ideally, you want a bulb that comes close to 5-6k on the color scale to simulate sunlight. For basking temps, if the beardie sits there and gapes and thermoregulates by moving off the basking spot after warming up, then the temp is fine for him. If however he sits under it all the time and never gapes or moves, then it is prolly a bit on the cold side. You want them to heat up to their max temp and then move to cooler area. That way you know he is getting all the needed heat he likes to help him digest. I personally use a 150 watt basking bulb on a Home Depot lamp dimmer so I can dial the temps warmer or cooler depending on the seasons/house temp.