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ok heres the deal.. i have a 55 gallon tank, and i have half of it covered with a wire mesh cover top thing.. and the other half i have covered with a regular florescent hood that came with it.. my question is that i was going to buy a bulb that someone reccomended to me on here that gave out uvb and uva waves, and just cut a hole in the wire mesh so is was direct uvb to them.. if i take the glass out of the fish tank hood, and put another flouresent uvb bulb in it, would it be a good idea? i have my basking area on the other side of the tank away from the flourescent of course.. but would it actually help them or what should i do?

If the UVB bulb is not directly over the basking area then it will not be helping your turtles at all. UVB rays are filtered out through water, glass, wire mesh, etc. There has to be nothing between the UVB and turtle, so you'd be wasting your money by putting one of the other side. Stick with the one directly over the basking area.

Regular UVB lights do emit both UVB and UVA rays. If the bulb that was recommended to you previously (in your Oct. 14 post?) was the the T-Rex Active Heat light, this is a combination mercury vapor light that emits UVB rays, UVA rays and heat, doing the work of two separate bulbs. If this is the bulb you're thinking of getting for your 55-gallon tank, your shouldn't need another UVB light. If you get the flood light (not the spot) you should have enough light in the tank to not need another lamp. These lights emit a lot of heat, so pay attention to the optimal distance the light should be from your turtle (read the instructions). They will also work best if hung vertically in a porcelain socket.

cool thanks for the help.. yeah the t-rex light was the one i was planning on getting, but i have to get another heat lamp thing too, almost like a metal clamp light, but that bulb is 100 watts, i have to get a porcelan one that can hold 100 watts thanks for the info now i wont waste my money

also u said the wire mesh takes out all the uvb rays too...well my light sits on top of the wire mesh right now.. but once i get the mercury vapor bulb.. would it be alright to put it on top of the mesh, but under the light cut a hole out.. so there would be no mesh under the bulb or anything,

I'm a little confused--why do you need another 100-watt bulb for heat if you're going to get the T-Rex? The 55-gallon doesn't seem big enough to need all that heat... (BTW, most porcelain/ceramic sockets I've seen are rated for up to 250/300 watts--I'd get the highest I could just in case I upgraded the tank and wanted to get a 160-watt MVB.)

Screens don't block all UVB rays (and UVB rays, depending on the strength of the source, can penetrate into the water a few inches). Of course, it's best if there is no barrier between the turtle and the UVB light. The amount screens do block, however, will vary with the size of the holes in the screen. I've read that screens having holes of approx. 1/4 inch will typically block 30% of the UVB rays. You may think that's great, that the turtle will still get 70%, but considering the money paid for MVBs, this seems like a waste to me. If I were to use a screen, I'd prefer to use one with half-inch holes. For a light like the T-Rex, though, I think it would be better hung, as per mfgrs instructions. I've used mine with a lamp stand for this purpose (Zoo-Med makes one and you can adjust the height and the distance from the side of the tank, for example, or you could make your own).