Lighting placement advice?

[austin.byrd.777]

Hi, new to the forum and has some questions based on my setup. Little back info: 4 month old sulcata. I have 3 lights on the 40 gallon tank now. 1 light on the far left is a reptisun 10.0 uvb 13 watt light, 2nd light in the center hanging is a 50 watt infrared basking spot light(getting a 100 watt tomorrow), 3rd light is a CHE at 150 watt on the big dome on the right. Do I have these lights placed right? Anything you guys would change?

 

[Tom]

1. No coil bulbs. These sometimes burn their eyes. Use a long tube or a MVB instead. Or better yet, get your tortoise some real sunshine a couple or few times a week and you won't need indoor UV.
2. No colored (infrared) bulbs. These make things look "funny" to them and can lead to problems. Use a white bulb for daytime.
3. CHE is great, but run it on a thermostat to maintain ambient where you want it.

Please read these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

 

[austin.byrd.777]

1) the uvb bulb is a long tube bulb
2) that's new to me but I'm returning that bulb tomorrow for an upgrade, I'll get a new bulb as white tomorrow.
3) the Che is Hooked up to a reptitemp rheostat if that makes a difference.

What my question is really about is the 4 zones? I should put the basking bulb and uvb on 1 side during the day and keep his hide on the opposite side. Meanwhile the Che is where ever keeping the tank over 80 at all times. Is that right?

 

[Tom]

1) the uvb bulb is a long tube bulb
2) that's new to me but I'm returning that bulb tomorrow for an upgrade, I'll get a new bulb as white tomorrow.
3) the Che is Hooked up to a reptitemp rheostat if that makes a difference.

What my question is really about is the 4 zones? I should put the basking bulb and uvb on 1 side during the day and keep his hide on the opposite side. Meanwhile the Che is where ever keeping the tank over 80 at all times. Is that right?

1. The bulb in your picture is not a tube type. It is a cfl coil type and they are dangerous. The tube types are also caled strip lights and are generally available in 24" lengths or longer.
2. Good.
3. You don't need a rheostat. You need a thermostat that will shut the CHE on and off as needed to maintain the correct ambient temp day and night.

Yes. The basking bulb should be on one side and the CHE generally over the middle to maintain ambient all over. BUT... Every enclosure is different, so be prepared to move things around if your thermometers tell you to.

 

[austin.byrd.777]

This is the bad kind? I thought it was only the spiral kind. And I gotta get some type of outdoor enclosure going

 

[tortdad]

View attachment 138562

This is the bad kind? I thought it was only the spiral kind. And I gotta get some type of outdoor enclosure going

Yea that kind is bad. It doesn't matter if it's coiled or bent into a U shape as both are "compact fluorescent". You need a "full size" UVB bulb that is long, the one I have is 24" but I've seen them com in 12", 18", 24", and 36".

 

[tortdad]

Like this one. Notice how this says HO (high output). Next you will need a lamp fixture to house the bulb. The build I got was 24", a HO, and 13watts. The zoomed lamp fixture for that bulb was like $65 or something stupid like that so I bought one drone Home Depot for $20. It was a grow light, I tossed the bulb that came with it and put my zoomed bulb in it. any lamp will work as long as it matches the specs from your bulb. If your bulb is a T5, 13w, HO, 18" bulb then find a lamp fixture that is the same.

 

[austin.byrd.777]

I ordered a mega sun 100w mvb off amazon. It's the same price as getting a tube bulb and the cheap fixture.