Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i'm building a tank for my BD and just have a few questions.

1. the tank is going to be between 2' and 1' 7", is that too low for a mercury vapour bulb?

and 2. since the MVB ise used for heat and has uvb, does that mean i can just use a normal flourescent light from a hardware store for lighting?

i'll probably have many more questions later.
thanks in advance
mike

the size should be fine. and yup, you can use a plain ol flourescent if you want. i dont use anything else, but with three beardie my room is awfully bright
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proud mama to:
1.0.0 ball python (mr snake),0.0.1 albino florida kingsnake (CK),1.1.0 leopard gecko (sebastian and vilma),0.1.0 colombian rainbow boa (luce),1.1.1 bearded dragon (kaipo, dulce, and kellen), 1.1.0 colombian redtailed boas (adam and eve)

I just got my POWERSUN a few days ago and its doing it's job..putting off good heat...I have a standard 55L gallon! it's 20" high...I have my Powersun sitting right on top of my mesh screen..by the way I have a 100W flood Powersun in a FLUKERS 10 inch,porceleon socket clamp light. Anyway to achieve a 108-110 degree temps needed Pogo's basking spot is only 8-9" away. The temp is constant and I haven't had any problems yet...Well not counting the bulb was hot enough to melt the plastic on my aquarium when it came into contact with it for about 2 seconds, but that was my fault...As far as your second question yes I am using a regular 24" flueroescent fixture for extra brightness.....

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God Bless, Beardie Dreams, & Peace!
Pogoniacs

Thats a pretty small tank for a beardie. He will outgrow it pretty quick. With that small of a tank you may have to use the flouresent tube and a spot light to keep the temp gradient needed. I prefer the MVBs over the flouresents though. The MVBs get pretty hot and shouldn't be put directly on the screen top. They should hang above the top and can be raised higher if the tank gets too hot. ZooMed makes an adjustable lamp hanger that works great. I bought mine from LLLReptile.com for about $20. You may want to start with a 100w instead of the 160w. You shouldnt need any other lighting. They will light up the whole tank. My livingroom looks like I'm landing small aircraft from my MVBs. You may need a ceramic heat emitter if your home gets too cold at night though.

I meant to say that the tank will be almost 2 feet high. the tank measurements will be aprox. 48 x 24 x 24

i'm also wondering if its ok to use a dimmer with the MVB instead of raising it higher

n/p
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Rob