Lighting?????

[Dawn0816]

I know I'm supposed to have a fluorescent light then a basking build BUT which is the best brand to buy? Or which do you that seems to work best? I've been to the pet stores an looked on amazon an eBay I'm just kinda clueless to what is the best brands an what works best. I'm getting two German Giant baby Beardies

 

[PatsyB]

When I first set up my tanks I used the ZooMed Reptisun 10.0 HO t8 bulb. I liked them a lot but rest them on top of the tank and the mesh blocks out a lot of the UVB and I changed my bulb every 6 months to make sure they were getting enough UVB from the light. 4 months ago I switched them out for the Reptisun 10.0 HO t5 bulbs and I love them! I noticed a difference in Dexter's activity immediately. The light and the hood are both ZooMed. I bought them from Dr. Foster's Smith on sale. About a month ago one of the fixtures stopped working and I emailed Zoomed and sent them a copy of my receipt and they sent me out a new one right away with no charge.

As far as the basking bulb goes, I was always one to just by a reptile basking light but right now in Dexter's tank I am using a indoor/outdoor halogen flood light and I'm getting the same result as I am in Luci's tank with the reptile bulb. Plus side is the halogen bulbs are way cheaper and last longer!

 

[Mushuandcricket]

When I first set up my tanks I used the ZooMed Reptisun 10.0 HO t8 bulb. I liked them a lot but rest them on top of the tank and the mesh blocks out a lot of the UVB and I changed my bulb every 6 months to make sure they were getting enough UVB from the light. 4 months ago I switched them out for the Reptisun 10.0 HO t5 bulbs and I love them! I noticed a difference in Dexter's activity immediately. The light and the hood are both ZooMed. I bought them from Dr. Foster's Smith on sale. About a month ago one of the fixtures stopped working and I emailed Zoomed and sent them a copy of my receipt and they sent me out a new one right away with no charge.

As far as the basking bulb goes, I was always one to just by a reptile basking light but right now in Dexter's tank I am using a indoor/outdoor halogen flood light and I'm getting the same result as I am in Luci's tank with the reptile bulb. Plus side is the halogen bulbs are way cheaper and last longer!

This is my set up too! I think its the way to go for lighting that puts out a high uvb output and cheap to replace. The light fixture itself is not bulky and comes with the lights when purchased. I used to use the Powersuns but they kept dying on me and are so expensive. This way you can light your entire enclosure so they are getting UVB in both the cool and warm side. They use less watts and are cheap to replace compared to the Powersun type bulbs. All my reptiles are set up this way that need UVB lighting.