Lighting!

[Sebastian]

Hi everyone!

So I'm currently in the process of building a new custom cage for my Bluey (as he's been eating like a pig and is soon going to outgrow his current baby tank!) and I had a couple questions about lighting. Since I'm building the new tank myself, I have a lot of fun options regarding the lighting situation. Right now I use a dome with two outlets, one holds a standard florescent light bulb and the other side holds a 2.0 UVB. Then he has a basking light in a separate dome. The cool end temperature in the tank is about 80° (during the day) and the basking spot is about 90°-100°. At night we drop down to about 70-75°.

With the new tank I was thinking I might like to use some pot lights (2-3) at about 10-15 watts each (I'll play around with wattage to ensure the cool end temp is appropriate) and then using a type of MVB or other heat+uv light bulb for his basking spot, in order to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. The new tank is 45"(length) x 20" (depth) x 18" (height). Would this be a good way of setting everything up? Are the uv+heat bulbs a good choice or are they difficult to use properly?

The other option of course is to simply use the current dome with a separate UVB and general light and then have the separate basking light.

As for ventilation, which I know will come up, I'm inserting a couple large vents along the top (that can be opened or closed) in order to allow for appropriate air and heat ventilation.

Any feedback would be helpful, Thanks guys!

[donkeybuff]

I think the MVB for the hotspot is a good choice. I get good results with a 100 watt Powersun MVB that is about 14 inches away from the basking spot. The bulb is very easy to use, certainly much easier to deal with than having multiple bulbs. Play around with the low wattage lights so that your enclosure is adequately lit.

[saisaac]

Pot/Can Lights are pretty large and will make the build more complicated. If you want to light the cooler parts of the tank what I would do is install a flourscent strip that is the lenght of the cage. If you are providing UV through a MVB I would just use a Daylight Deluxe color temperature T8 bulb or similar high color rendering index bulb otherwise you could use a Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0. I have used MVB bulbs in the past with great success, but when I built my custom enclosure they produced too much heat. My basking spot without any elevation was at 120-130 degrees! So I have since switched to just using Halogen floods and Ceramic Heat Emitters for heat and Reptisun 10.0 for UV.

Based on my experience, I would guess you want the distance between your bulb and the basking spot for a wooden enclosure to be about 18-24." My mistake was having that be the distance from the bottom of the socket not the bulb. MVBs are not dimmable so you have to choose a bulb that will not over heat the enclosure and then add additional heat when necessary via CHE or additional bulbs.

[Sebastian]

Thanks for the replies guys,

@Saisaac, the pot lights I have are relatively small (about 5 in radius) but I also just found two Puck lights as well, which I may go with (if I go with the MVB route) because of their ease of installation, but they are only about 10 watts so they don't give off much heat. I'm curious about your recommendation for a flourscent strip, would that be installed using a dome? and then a large hole cut out of the top? (I forgot to mention the tank is wood all the way around with glass in the front)

Also another question, i've been looking around at uv+heat lights and I'm wondering if any of the following are appropriate?
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lInCA%2FNo
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lInCA%2FNo
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lInCA%2FNo

Thanks again guys, the more information the better after all, I want this new tank to be perfect for my little baby.

[donkeybuff]

Those produce UVA, not UVB. Pretty much all lights produce UVA, they only list it there as a marketing ploy. UVB is what you need.

[Sebastian]

Oh ok, I was wondering why they were marked lower than the UVB and MVB bulbs. Thank you =) I would have ended up with one just because of the price difference had no one said anything!

Edit: I think i'm going to end up going the MVB route, i'm just wondering what brands people use? I've see reptileuv.com recommend quite a lot online. I'd prefer to get something local, but if it's a superior product to those found in local stores then i'd like to know!

Also, can anyone tell me about how long these bulbs last? They are fairly expensive afterall, i'd like to know it will last me at least a year (but maybe that's wishing for too much in this day and age). I see the BTS care sheet says they tend to come with a year warranty but I haven't seen this on any of the products i've looked at so far?

Cheers guys

[saisaac]

If the enclosure has a solid top you can just mount the strip to the top. I think you'll find that puck lights/can lights won't light up the tank evenly.

Mercury Vapor Bulbs produce a lot more UVB than Reptisun, Reptiglo, etc. Best way I have seen it explained is that there are two ways at looking at reptile UVB lighting. Using a Reptisun or the like you are providing UV that is closer to what they would experience in the shade in the wild, but you are generally providing this across the entire cage with a long strip. With a MVB you are providing UV much closer to being out in the open sun, but you are only providing it at one end of the tank allowing your skink to retreat to the other end if they so choose.

[Sebastian]

Thanks Saisaac, sorry for all the questions but I have on more,

With the MVB bulbs, do I need to buy a new light dome as well or will the one I have (good up to 175 watts) by Exo terra (might be flukers) be sufficient?

[donkeybuff]

MVB bulbs need good ventilation to prevent overheating. Otherwise, they keep turning themselves off and do not turn back on for at least 15 minutes. The wattage is fine, as MVBs are sold usually up to 160 watts. Take a look at the Deep Dome by Zoo Med. If your dome is similar, it should work well.