Up until now I've had no problem with lighting and heating.
I have two small tanks 20 gallons or so they use simple incadenscent 25 wattss one day one night for the standard glass aquariums and then I have one huge mother of a cage (converted tv cabinet) that uses a 100 waat day 100 watt night and flourscent for additional lighting all these keeping the cages in the proper temps.
Trouble now is I'm upgrading cages and now need new lights to suit these specialty cages and ya know it gets down right ridiculous to buy bulbs over and over aqgain till you find the right temperature settings.
I also do not use under the tank heaters. Did long ago never liked em. Haven't looked back since.
Anyway the problem here is. I've gota strip for say a flourescent. No problem here they are low wattage and will add low temp to the over all cage.
But spots are the pain. The cage is 36wx24hx24h Where the spots go how ever it's 36wx16hx24d. got my temperature sensors which isn't going to be a problem. But buying bulbs just to try them out well that gets too costly. sure I can buy low and work my way up. But I'dd really like to find bulbs that will spot to the right temps 16 inches awya from the light.
Any suggestions on type of light wattages etc?
Here's what I'm thinking of setting up so far, so you can factor this all in.
Cage info:
36"L x 24"H x 24"D Cage Details
Flourescent Light Area
Putting in to this area which is 20.5 inches above the bottom of the tank.
(Yes I do know about the potential hazards of these with various reptiles and that all should be replaced. but I'll be watching in case I get old stock. So don't worry please.)
Zilla UVB Facts
Desert Series Low Profile T5 Fixture : 24" Low Profile Double Bulb Fixture
Includes
1 Desert 50 T5 fluorescent bulbs with a UVB output of 50 microwatts per second/cm2 @ 12"
1 Daylight Fluorescent Bulb. The Daylight Full-spectrum bulb provides high-intensity 6700K light output that simulates natural sunlight
But I think the Desert 50 is too much UVB based on info around and will replace with something that has a lower dose of UVB
Dome Light Area
Two 5.5 Dome spots per square. One for day one for night.
As stated the are for the spot is 16 inches away from teh bottom of the cage.
Thinking of these bulbs. For the spots.
Night
Zilla Night Black Heat Bulb 50 or 75 watt (Note this is not the spot light bulb of the same design) This will be the night heat source other than ambeit room temperature.
Day
Repti Halogen Heat Lamp by Zoo Med 50 watt
Bedding is Ground English walnut shell. FYI.
A large water dish is always provided 4 inches deep 17x14 i think it is a corner bowl.
The 3 in one rock hide is the hide.
There's tree and fauna will be inside as well.
So thoughts on lighting for heat sources for this beast of a cage?
I do figure I may have to buy bulbs at least twice. First set second set. So I'd like if you have ideas on what the first set shoudl be that you ttink might heat this to adequate corn temps. For day and night cycles.