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I just bought my turts a basking lamp, and bulb. I really didnt know what watttage bulb to buy, so I asked the lady at the pet store, and she told me to get a 100W bulb.
http://www.petco.com/product_info.asp?sku=9119727002&tab=0&dept_id=&c1=0&c2=&c3=&ct1=&ct2=&ct3=
http://www.exo-terra.com/EN/products/sun_glo_neodymium_spot_i.html
Is this bulb too much? They had different wattages, but they told me to get the 100 watt because I have a 20 gallon tank.

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Okay I'll ask this question then. I just bought a clamp at Home Depot that can only hold 75 or less watts, no more. The UVB bulb I'm going to get says 26watts=100 watt incandescent bulb. Does this mean I probably should get a stronger clamp?

100W is good for ur turtle, assuming u have a relatively large tank. just check how far ur supposed to have it from the basking spot. its usually something like 6 inches or something.

umm.. yea texas u should get a new clamp lol

Okay I'll ask this question then. I just bought a clamp at Home Depot that can only hold 75 or less watts, no more. The UVB bulb I'm going to get says 26watts=100 watt incandescent bulb. Does this mean I probably should get a stronger clamp?

No, the "26watts=100 watt incandescent bulb" means that the 26 watt UV will put out as much light as a 100 watt incandescent bulb, it has nothing to do with heat so your lamp is ok for that UV bulb. I am a maintenace man so I deal with bulbs alot.

100 watt for a 20 gal seems too much.... but then it all depends on how far away it is from the basking spot. The basking area should be about 10 degrees hotter than the water... adjusting the distance between the light and basking spot should be sufficiant for maintaining proper temps.

i use a 75 watt in my 30 gallon, and i have to put it really far from the basking spot beacuse it gets so hot. i would make shure and check the temps of the basking area when you have it all setup. dont want to fry your turt.

My lamp is about 8 inches away from their basking spot. I just recently bought a basking lamp, and its the best money I ever spent. THEY LOVE IT!!!!! They didnt really have an incentive to bask before, but now, they actually climb on top of eachother to get closer to the lamp. Its like a turtle pyramid. If anyone here doesnt have a basking lamp, I would highly recommend getting one. Like I said, THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.

STRAYKINGFISHER wrote:
No, the "26watts=100 watt incandescent bulb" means that the 26 watt UV will put out as much light as a 100 watt incandescent bulb, it has nothing to do with heat so your lamp is ok for that UV bulb. I am a maintenace man so I deal with bulbs alot.

But the clamp says it can only hold 75 watts, does that mean the clamp I have will work for it or do I need to get a new?

Regular UVB bulbs don't really give off heat. If what you've got is indeed a UVB bulb, I think you should be OK. Is this the Reptisun 10.0 compact flourescent UVB bulb?

If the UV bulb will fit in the clamp lamp, there is no problem with putting it in the lamp, the max. wattage is given so that you don't put a bulb that gives off more heat than the lamp can handle, the UV bulb will not give off very much heat to worry about the lamp.

I'll give you an example, I used one of those clamp lamps for a basking light and I put a 100 watt red heat bulb in it for a heat source, the plastic parts of the lamp melted and I had to replace it with a ceramic base clamp lamp made for reptile basking lights. I have a UV bulb in a regular clamp lamp and have not had to worry about it over heating and melting anything, pretty much, if you can handle the UV bulb without yelling out in pain from the heat, it would be ok to leave it in the lamp.

you should be fine with it texas jags fan.

Okay thanks.

So, if I have a 20 gallon tank, and I set the water heater to 76 degrees, how far away and how much wattage do I need? Or do I just have to keep testing it?

If you mean a basking bulb, I would use a 60 watt. Place the bulb about 6 inches away. Make sure it stays about 10 degrees warmer then your water temperature.

Don't only consider wattage, go by what bulb will get the basking temp 88-90F. Test the 60-watt one with a thermometer--place it on the basking area where your turtle would be (if you could put it on something that's about the same height as your turtle, it would be even more accurate) and leave it there for 15-20 min.--to see if it's doing the job.