I am currently purchasing all the things needed for a new enclosure for my beardie that will be 8ft long 2ft wide.
I purchased a 4ft and a 2ft reptisun HO t5 10.0 bulb already so it will cover about 6ft out of the 8ft. These bulbs say 54watts on them. I never paid attention to the uvb wattage before. I just accidentally noticed that the fixture I bought says it is compatible with this bulb but the fixture says 25 watts…. ? ? umm… what??? I have read some stuff online, but it all just confused me more…
-there will be a mesh screen between. The beardie and the lights.
- highest basking spot = 12”
- lights will be about 12-18” from the basking spot.
- there will be 2ft of height inside the tank, with a light compartment on top. The mesh screen will separate the two areas.
Does anyone know what the proper UVB wattage should be for this size enclosure??? And if it higher then what I have, where would I find it? Maybe a link to the fixture n bulb needed?
The wattage of the bulb correlates with the length, as far as I know. It also varies depending on the bulb standard (T5, T8, T12 etc). A 54W T5HO bulb should be 48'' in length. The 22'' bulb should be 24W. The fixture should be the appropriate size for the bulb and provide the correct wattage to power it.
I usually suggest using at least a 24'' fixture because that will be long enough to provide a beam that is as wide as the dragon's length, allowing for even basking. The bulb doesn't need to cover the whole tank, it's actually good to provide a gradient along with areas of shade/no UVB available. In larger enclosures, a larger bulb can be used to provide more UVB area - I just wouldn't run it along the entire enclosure unless you put it in the front or back in order to create a gradient along the depth of the enclosure.
Thank you! Do you happen to know anything about waterfall pumps? I need to find one that will also filter the water because the water is going to fall into a swimming area… there is SO MANY different kinds of pumps and I have no idea which would be best… I made a post under “enclosures” category about it as well..