I would agree that a flourescent would be more effective in a smaller tank, but I'm always recommending 40's anyway. Just for the reason that most HL's people are coming by are wild, and they really need the extra space to not stress out. A young HL, in a small tank until it grows, may be fine with a flourescent...and it may be easier to achieve temps that aren't too high. Of course I would just recommend moving the vapor back a bit if you can, and I think it may be easier to just go with the larger tank and better lighting in the beginning, rather than having to upgrade later. But that is matter of preference...providing that a person replaces the UV lighting when they should, or has a true UV meter....which we all know most do not do, or have.

Flourescents just don't put out as much UVB to start with, and while both mercury vapors and flourescents burn out and degrade almost exponentially within months...flourescents just start out with less to begin with. They have to be very close to contribute useable UVB. Some are insufficient right out of the box. And without proper levels of UVB, we know all the problems that can create. I just take the stance that anytime they're kept indoors, it's a good point to assume they are getting inferior UVB with almost anything as compared to the sun, so I advocate just springing for something with better numbers. I'm open to the notion that HL's "maybe" have an advantage given their surface area during basking....

I find it noteworthy though that not many professionals, and no zoo's I have seen, use flourescents for UVB anymore. I think that really says something. Granted they are usually larger enclosures they keep their herps in, but there's a good reason for that too. You will note from the links below just how terrible flourescents are in their measured UVB levels. Given that they wouldn't seem to come close to the irradiated UVB levels in microwatts of the sun, even in the mid morning or afternoon, you have to wonder just how long a reptile would have to stay under the typical flourescent just to get what it would in maybe an hour basking time in the sun. Even running a flourescent 24/7 you might not catch up on the dose of a basking HL in the wild.

www.uvguide.co.uk/zoolamps.htm
www.reptilesdownunder.com/reptile/enclosure/files/lightuvlight.pdf
www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Researchmain.html
www.carolinapetsupply.com/uvb_output_of_bulbs.htm
www.uvguide.co.uk/links.htm






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"A man that should call everything by it's right name, would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a common enemy." The Complete Works of George Savile, First Marquess of Halifax 1912,246

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