First of all, look for a book called "The Bearded Dragon Manual" (I think that's what it's called). This will give you a log of good information, but I just use it as a base for my husbandry tactics and build off of it by talking to my reptile vet and other local breeders and stuff. Here's an example of a current conflict I've been trying to work out that most people are also quite confused by:
The book, as well as a lot of other people swear that bearded dragons can be kept on playsand with no problems at all, however my vet has informed me that impactions from sand are far too frequent for him to be able to tell me that it's safe to keep them on sand. He told me to keep my beardie on repti carpet or a similar indoor/outdoor carpet. I would like to have sand for the natural look and everything, but I still need to compile more information before I decide whether to use sand again or stick with the carpet. I'm actually going to call the vet later to see if I can get more information about the impactions, like if the lizards were fed on the sand or not, what ages they were, and other things. It all makes a difference.
So the substrate debate is an ongoing one. People argue that the dragons will thrive better in an enclosure full of sand than on some carpet that clashes with it's natural colors (the standard color of carpet used is usually green or blue I think, they don't make it in a sandy color...yet). Basically, don't use lizard litter or anything else like it, and don't use any sort of wood chips. Bed-a-beast seems like a good product but takes to much hassle because you have to soak it in water to get it to expand, and then let it dry out completely. If you are going to use sand, only use it once the dragon reaches about a foot long, and before that use paper towels (or repti carpet, but paper towels are easier to clean up). If you are going to use sand, feed in a seperate enclosure. I use a rubbermaid container that's about 20" long, 15" wide, and 15" tall (just recently sid, my 17" beardie, was able to get out of the container by jumping and climbing). I would also feed them in a seperate container if they are on a different substrate, because then crickets don't get left behind in the tank and chew on your lizard at night (which they do!). When feeding, offer as many crickets as the lizard will eat in one sitting. For babies, you will have to feed them 2 times a day, and then once they get older (not sure exactly how old, probably a few monthes, the book will tell you that. I actually got mine when it was about 6 monthes old so he was already past that stage). When they reach that stage, you start feeding them once a day, and eventually, when you are certain the dragon has stopped growing (somewhere between 1 and 2 years old) you can go to feeding every other day.
As for the tank sizes, the absolute minimum is a 40 gallon breeder, which is the size of a standard 30 gallon except instead of being 12" deep, it's 18. that's fairly important because beardeds like to run around and need a lot of turning space. Most people here swear by their 4'x2'x2' enclosures, but some of us don't have the space required for one of those, so a 40 gallon breeder is the minimum. I am going to be uprgrading my tank from the 40 breeder to probably something taller for more climbing space (like 36" long, 18" deep, and 24" tall). A tank at least 48" long is preferred, but I don't have the space for one right now, and if I get the taller tank I can make his basking branches much more vertically oriented than horizontally so he can have more floor space. Keep both ideas in mind. When starting out, you can use a ten gallon up until the dragon is about 8-10" long at the most (which only takes about a month or two). If you already have a 30 gallon tank, you can use that until the dragon outgrows it when it is about 14" long (and still probably less than 6 monthes old).
i think that should get you off to a good start with your research, but like I said, buy the book and build off of it.
later
