Lighting question

[syzygy]

I was given a 36x18x18 enclosure. It's one of those Zilla or ZooMed ones with the front opening doors and the wire mesh top that has black plastic supports running front to back and left to right so the top wire mesh is divided into four quadrants.

I want the BD to get the light/heat it needs, but the tank is in my living room so I have some aesthetic constraints to work with as well. For this reason I want to "hide" the light inside the lid directly under the left to right support and then place the halogen fixture on one of the quadrants....no way to hide that thing.

I have a 36" T5 HO SunBlaster fixture, but because the power cord is on one end it doesn't fit unless it's at an angle....no good. Is the 24" fixture (22" bulb) sufficient? I've read that I should have 2/3 coverage....is that just based on length? If so the 22" bulb should work. I was imagining using the Reptisun 10 bulbs, but could use the Arcadia 12% if that would help make up for my just meeting minimum coverage requirements.

Another option would be to use an 18" T5 fixture biased to one side and use one of the UV/heat combo bulbs to supplement. Technically I could do the same thing with the 24" fixture. Somehow it feels cleaner to me to have a dedicated bulb for UV and another for heat, but I'm a bit OCD like that.

Thoughts?

 

[diegothediggy]

mine are in frount opening vivs butnthe top is wood could u not replece the mesh with wood and fix fixturs to the wood if that would help? i have separate lights for heat and uvb. both mine have different light because of size of the vivs n also o ne of my beardies have liver failure so he has a coil uvb wich give off more uvb than neededfor a healthy bearded and a 40watt heat bulb over his basking spot. other beardies viv is taller so he has a 60 watt heat bulb and a strip light full length of the viv. not sure wot makr it is off my head. but the viv is just over 4 ft and the light is 4. could you post a pic of viv so i could get a better understanding of wot it looks like.

 

[syzygy]

I was wrong...its the ExoTerra one. Here's a pic.
Mostly curious if other are using 24" T5 fixtures in their 36" wide enclosures or if it's not enough.
I want to zip tie it inside the lid to the center plastic support so the bulb will be about 15" from the bottom. FYI, the SunBlaster fixture has a decent reflector on it.

 

[BeardedHippy]

24" is ideal for a 36" enclosure, if you get an arcadia 12% even better as they are great quality. 15" is high enough, they have good penetration

 

[PatsyB]

I have that tank. I use a 36" T5 Arcadia 12% bulb in a Zoomed fixture. The fixture is real flat and thin so it doesn't look bad and then I have my dome light. The rule is to cover at least 2/3'rds of your tank so a 24" fixture should be sufficient. When mounting a T5 inside, you may want to make sure that they have lots of hides because there is no mesh blocking the intense UVB. Also make sure you mount over head so that it doesn't shine in there eyes.

 

[syzygy]

I have that tank. I use a 36" T5 Arcadia 12% bulb in a Zoomed fixture. The fixture is real flat and thin so it doesn't look bad and then I have my dome light. The rule is to cover at least 2/3'rds of your tank so a 24" fixture should be sufficient. When mounting a T5 inside, you may want to make sure that they have lots of hides because there is no mesh blocking the intense UVB. Also make sure you mount over head so that it doesn't shine in there eyes.

Yes, I came across that fixture and liked the look of it due to it being so slim. I have been considering if I'd rather use this on top instead of mounting the 24" inside. If we choose to mount inside I might just use a 10% bulb (while still offering a shelter).

 

[syzygy]

Thought I'd follow-up on this to let ppl know where I ended up.

I found a chart online where somebody had taken UVB measurements of a couple of the bulbs I was considering in one of the fixtures I was considering. From the data they presented I learned that an Arcadia 12% bulb sitting on top of my enclosure and shining through a screen would provide slightly less UVB than an Arcadia 6% mounted on the inside. This is partially because of the screen and partially because of the 2" difference in height between sitting on top and mounting inside.

I choose the later since I really wanted to keep the top of the enclosure as clean as possible. According to their data I should be able to get into the UVI 3 to 5 range at a distance of 7.75" to 13.75". That seems like a very usable range.

Relating to heat, I got a 7" Exo Terra deep dome lamp and a 75W R30 Halogen Chromalux bulb. It's 4200K and still not as white as the Arcadia UVB bulb, but better than a lot of the other options I saw. I did some testing with it this weekend and set a river rock about 12" below it to see if I could get into the 105F range I keep reading as being recommended. After 15 minutes I checked with my IR laser gun and it was 95F. I was a bit bummed because I was thinking this meant I would either need a 2nd 7" lamp on top or I'd have to get a higher wattage bulb in the more standard 2700K color range. I went to lunch and when I got back I realized I'd left the light on so I went ahead and checked the temp again....122F now! Apparently it just took a while to heat up that large stone.

I've ordered an in-line lamp dimmer and a timer and pretty much just need to settle on decor before we actually get the BD.