Lighting

[Brandi M.]

Okay so we just got Jedi his new Zilla 40 g breeder tank and looking to update his lighting. He is about 3 months old now. My husband was reading on another forum that the Reptisun 10.0 HO T5 is the way to go, but He's not sure how much of the tank We should cover with it. Planning on doing a hood on the top of the screen because he likes to climb up high a lot and We've read that the 10.0 if it is too close can actually be too much UVB for him and by putting it on top it cuts it down a bit while still being effective levels for him. He usually hangs out about 6-8 inches from the top. What I'm wondering is would it be better to have the Reptisun run the length of the tank or have it be a 24" size with the cool side a bit darker? He also has a Zoo Med 100W basking bulb set up on the one side as well.


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[Bclifton]

From what I've researched it should run 3/4 of the tank. You want it mostly on the basking side.


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[PatsyB]

You want minimum of 3/4 of the tank. I personally do the whole length of the tank and provide places for them to get away from the light when they need to.

 

[EASTCREEK]

I don't mean to hijack your thread but I'm curious if I can have to much UVB in the cage.

I have a little guy very similar to this with the same size tank. For lighting I purchased a Zoo Med Powersun 100W mercury vapor lamp for the Basking side and on the cool side I placed an Exo Terra reptile UVB150 26W compact fluorescent. Both are in Zoo Med deep dome fixtures sitting on top of the screened lid.

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[PatsyB]

I don't mean to hijack your thread but I'm curious if I can have to much UVB in the cage.

I have a little guy very similar to this with the same size tank. For lighting I purchased a Zoo Med Powersun 100W mercury vapor lamp for the Basking side and on the cool side I placed an Exo Terra reptile UVB150 26W compact fluorescent. Both are in Zoo Med deep dome fixtures sitting on top of the screened lid.

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I read that they can figure out when they need UVB and when they don't need it and they will hide when it's not necessary. I would just ditch the compact fluorescent, unless he's sitting 3-4 inches away from it, it's not going to do him any good.