UVB help

[JROBERTS1247]

Hey there! Had a few questions , if anyone could help.

So I just got my bearded dragon like a week ago. He’s in a 20 gallon tank. It was a zoo med starting kit that came with a 75w basking bulb an a compact 10.0 reptisun UVB bulb. It also has a screen On top of the tank.

So I did some research an saw that the screen takes out some of the UVB so I up graded my UVB to a T5 reptisun 5.0 setting on top of the screen. I also had a issue getting the basking spot to hit 100 degrees so I updated the basking bulb to 100w. Also setting on top of the screen.

Is that too much? He seating about 7-8 away from the bulb at his basking post. Should I get a mount for the lights an take the screen off? Thanks

 

[KarrieRee]

Hey there! Had a few questions , if anyone could help.

So I just got my bearded dragon like a week ago. He’s in a 20 gallon tank. It was a zoo med starting kit that came with a 75w basking bulb an a compact 10.0 reptisun UVB bulb. It also has a screen On top of the tank.

So I did some research an saw that the screen takes out some of the UVB so I up graded my UVB to a T5 reptisun 5.0 setting on top of the screen. I also had a issue getting the basking spot to hit 100 degrees so I updated the basking bulb to 100w. Also setting on top of the screen.

Is that too much? He seating about 7-8 away from the bulb at his basking post. Should I get a mount for the lights an take the screen off? Thanks

Nice choice on the UVB --- use what you have for now but the UVB needs to be unobstructed so I would take the screen and butt it up to your UVB going vertical across the tank place the basking bulbs next to it- distance is good but you need the 5.0 w/ no screen its not strong enough to go thru screen-

 

[JROBERTS1247]

Nice choice on the UVB --- use what you have for now but the UVB needs to be unobstructed so I would take the screen and butt it up to your UVB going vertical across the tank place the basking bulbs next to it- distance is good but you need the 5.0 w/ no screen its not strong enough to go thru screen-

Nice choice on the UVB --- use what you have for now but the UVB needs to be unobstructed so I would take the screen and butt it up to your UVB going vertical across the tank place the basking bulbs next to it- distance is good but you need the 5.0 w/ no screen its not strong enough to go thru screen-

Oh so the basking spot would have the screen an the basking bulb over it’s an the other half of the tank will have no screen with the uvb shining in? Is that what your saying? Lol never thought of that..

I was actually thinking of just getting the 40 gallon tank today. If I go that way what should the set up be? Using the same T5. 5.0

 

[CooperDragon]

It sounds like you're moving in the right direction. Getting the T5 5.0 bulb is a good choice for a 20g and it looks like you have some good rocks and basking logs in the enclosure. If you upgrade to a 40g enclosure (I recommend doing this at least for now and possibly working on building a larger one for adulthood), then you'll want to upgrade the bulb to a 10.0 (or Arcadia 12%) which should fix that fixture. The 5.0 can still be used, but only has an optimal range of about 6-8'' from the bulb, so it's not as good of a choice with a larger enclosure. The stronger bulbs can be set up 10-14'' away and still provide plenty of UVB.

As far as heat goes, I'd move the probe you have so it's sitting right on the rock. You can secure it with a zip tie or something along those lines. You could also just double check the surface temp with an infrared temp gun if you have one. You want to adjust the lights based on the surface temp reading rather than the ambient temps which you're getting with the probe mounted on the wall.

 

[Drache613]

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