Zilla T8 UV bulb in a 20 gallon tank?

[Beardieonanadventure]

Is the Zilla T8 UV light any good in a 20 gallon tank? How close/far should a beardie be from it?

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...yes, it would be fine. You can position it about 8-10" from your beardie. If it's shining through a screen you might want to be sure he can get even closer. Either that or you can try to attach it inside. You'll end up with a bigger tank eventually and then you can adjust it the same way to be sure it's close enough.

 

[Beardieonanadventure]

It has a glass screen and my enclosure has a wire screen.

Is that okay? I've heard that you shouldn't have glass between the UV light and a beardie but I'm not entirely sure!

 

[AHBD]

I apologize, for some reason my brain read Reptisun instead of Zilla....temporarily brain dead. :shock: So no, that is not a recommended bulb, and any fixture would need to have the glass or plastic shield removed.

 

[Beardieonanadventure]

We can't find the reptisun at my local pet store.

Would this do for about 6 months until he needs a bigger cage?

 

[CooperDragon]

I've used the Desert 50 without a problem in the past. I believe they were redesigned so they don't emit a harmful wavelength of UVB any longer. Based on my testing, they have a UVI output of around 3.7 at 6'' through a mesh top (5.6 without a mesh top) which is a decent amount for basking. It drops quickly though to 1.2 at 12'' (shade levels). The tests were done with a reflective fixture so the strength would likely be less without it. If you're unable to get a ReptiSun 10.0 or an Arcadia 12% online then the Desert 50 should be OK and a T8 is appropriate for such a small enclosure. I suggest moving to a T5 when you upgrade the tank size though.

 

[Beardieonanadventure]

I've used the Desert 50 without a problem in the past. I believe they were redesigned so they don't emit a harmful wavelength of UVB any longer. Based on my testing, they have a UVI output of around 3.7 at 6'' through a mesh top (5.6 without a mesh top) which is a decent amount for basking. It drops quickly though to 1.2 at 12'' (shade levels). The tests were done with a reflective fixture so the strength would likely be less without it. If you're unable to get a ReptiSun 10.0 or an Arcadia 12% online then the Desert 50 should be OK and a T8 is appropriate for such a small enclosure. I suggest moving to a T5 when you upgrade the tank size though.

It's actually a tropical 50. Is that bad? And that makes me feel much better, thanks for the info! Also- is it safe to just remove the glass and let it run?

 

[AHBD]

Thanks Cooper, I wasn't sure on that , so I imagine that the 5.0 may be a decent bulb [ correct me if I'm wrong ] but just not strong enough for desert reptiles. I would like to mention that 20 years ago when I started keeping beardies everyone used the Reptisun 5.0, the 10.0 wasn't around yet.....and all babies I raised grew big + healthy with the 5.0 bulb. Having said that I don't know for sure that the Zilla 5.0 produces enough uvb. But you definitely need to take the glass shield off, it blocks the uvb.

 

[CooperDragon]

Yep, definitely remove the cover from the fixture to allow UVB through. AHBD is correct. The tropical (5.0) bulb gives off shade levels of UVB while the desert (10.0) provides mid morning sunlight levels of UVB at a distance of about 6-8''. When you bump up to the newer T5 bulbs, they can produce mid day levels of UVB at 12-14''.