General Care Discussion :: Lighting Question.

[Karawr]

I recently got two Zilla clamp lamps but I'm having trouble setting them up at the right distance.

For heat, I have a 75W turtle tuff halogen lamp 12" above his basking area. Is this a good distance?

For UVB, this is where I'm having troubles. Does it matter how far/close it is to the basking dock? It's hard to explain, but the way I have it set up there are two ledges that I can clamp on to. There is one that is 13" above basking dock, and there is one that is really close at 8". Is this too close? I have reptiglo 5.0 26W bulb.

How do you guys have your bulbs setup? I find the reptile clamp lamps difficult because I can't adjust their distance when I clamp them to the tank. My tank is small so to optimize swimming water I've got it 2" from the brim with a turtle dock, and a netting/screen thing to keep him from escaping. This makes it impossible to rest lamps on the "roof" of the tank because they'll be too close.

Also, is the UVB harmful to my eyes? The bottom half of it is poking out of the bottom of the lamp and I can always see it.

[BullDog]

For the 75W, you'll want to measure the temperature. You'll be aiming for the mid-80's or low 90's as far as temp goes. If it's too hot or too cool, you'll want to adjust it best you can.

For the UVB, either should be OK with the 5.0 bulb. I've got my 5.0 at about 8-10". If you want to play it safe though, you could clamp it on the 13" shelf, especially if the clamp lamp is reflective..

As for eyes, if you're looking at it frequently, I would imagine it wouldn't be too good.
I would say if you can, set up some sort of home-made shade to hide the bulb a bit. On one of my tanks, the bulb was poking out the bottom, so I used electrical tape to stick a piece of tin foil to the bottom of the shade. Doesn't look very nice, but it keeps it out of my eyes.

[Karawr]

I got the lamps from a friend and she gave 'em to me out of the box. I'm pretty sure they're reflective as the name on the zilla website is "premium reflector dome". I'll keep it at 13" then.

For the heat, I can't measure because all the thermometers at the pet store are really, really shitty. But I'm going out of town and there is a Big Als where I'm going so I'm going to stock up on turtle supplies. I'm excited!

I might just buy some new lamps from a hardware store so that it will cover the bulb, be the right distance and look nice.

Thanks!