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Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 2:24 pm
by RagTagSoldier
Hello all. I am new to reptiles altogether but have been keeping vivariums for years in the form of aquariums :)
My question is this, I am setting up a reptile tank to house a BTS under my 120 inch Projection screen in the home theater room (where we spend most of our time) as a sort of center piece in a 75 gallon tank.
Can I use led lighting for the general lighting, as incandescent and cfl or any other type of light will fade out the picture on the screen, and use Ceramic heat emitters for heat and basking? I am doing alot of reaserch and really this is the only thing I cannot get a straight answer on.
THANKS ALL :)

Re: Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 2:31 pm
by NickBrahz
Not sure about the lights but you can defiantly use ceramic heat emitters for heat

Re: Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 2:55 pm
by RagTagSoldier
Well then I do not see why not. Ill give it a go. still a month or so down the road yet though. Is there a recommended wattage of emitter for a 75 gallon sized tank?

Re: Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:05 pm
by NickBrahz
Saying a tank is a certain Gallon/Litre isn't helpful because they can come in all different shapes, say 75 gallon could be shallow but really square and a 40 gallon may be more rectangular and higher, if you post dimensions i can guess a wattage.

Re: Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:28 pm
by RagTagSoldier
Yeah I didnt think of that lmao. Sorry.
48Lx18Dx21T

Re: Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:22 pm
by aron77
I'm new to BT but not to reptiles and my first thought on your placement of your tank that close to the TV is that you are going to stress the animal from the sounds from the TV and possibly the visual too; if the speakers are no where near the screen then maybe you can disregard this. If you have a bass speaker near by you are going to turn that tank into one big subwoofer and drive that lizard nuts.

I have a 90 gal tank which is very similar to yours but just a little taller and I have a 100 watt ceramic heater that I have attached inside the tank in the corner and I get that up to the mid 90's by itself with no problem but I also use another lamp with a 100watt incandescent bulb on top of the tank to get it up to about 100 degrees at the basking spot; the ambient temperature of your house will also make a difference like if this is in a basement you might need more heat. However I also have a UVB light in the other corner near the heater to imitate the sun and provide the best possible care for my animal. Some say you don't need it on this particular lizard, while others lizards like bearded dragons absolutely need it, but my theory is that if it is a diurnal, vs nocturnal, reptile that it should probably be provided UVB even if some people seem to keep theirs with no UVB without causing harm. So if you are going to provide UVB, as most would recommend, then that might also be another reason to reconsider tank placement.

Re: Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:41 pm
by Susann
Even knowing the dimensions may not make it possible for someone in Sydney Australia to guess what wattage bulbs someone in Ohio US needs to create the proper heat gradient. It is all dependent on the conditions outside of the tank, like the temperature, humidity, and air vents in the room.
Your best bet is to just set it up and see where you land on temps and then make adjustments. Myself I have high wattage CHE on dimmers, that way I can make adjustments in either directions as needed throughout the year.

Loud noises and subwoofer rumblings may stress reptiles out, but unless they are excessive I think a BTS would get used to it. I would still rethink the placement of the tank to a calmer spot as most of the time the lights and sounds of most TV shows would be going on in the evenings when most BTS are trying to go to sleep for the night. Many people have their tanks in family rooms though with no problems, just something to keep in mind still.

Re: Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 10:45 pm
by NickBrahz
For that height i would say between a 100-150watt, but as Susann said i live in Australia and ambient temperatures will vary, i personally have a globe of each wattage, 50W, 100W, 150W, 150W CHE, 150W infrared, and i just swap them around as needed if its say a cold few days or a hot few days.

Re: Need lighting help... Odd Question.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:03 pm
by RagTagSoldier
Thanks for all of the responses guys and gals. The subwoofer is at the rear of the room and it is not top quality you could probably compare the whole system to a stereo on a newerish (is that a word lol) car. However I am not sure if the uvb will affect picture quality as most uvb bulbs seem pretty dim. I can Move the tank off to the side of the room without issue though if need be. The animals best interests are first priority. Luckily we are good on the loud noise issue. I LOVE loud, my wife HATES loud so we meet in the middle lol. So just get everything thing up and running and figure it out through trial and error before I get the BTS. sounds easy enough. I still have plenty of research to do on diet and whatnot. Thanks guys. This seems to be a pretty awesome community.