. It looks like you have 5 to 7 inches (~13 or 18cm) of water depth that you could add?
It is GREAT that you did remove the gravel, as it was also too sharp for him to be walking on. River rocks make nice, smooth stones. Excellent bottom now, though.
He will bask when you are out of the room because they are naturally shy. Once he is older and knows you well, and isn't a baby, he will be less shy when you are in the room, ...but it is very natural for them to startle and run for safety into the water.
As far as your light fixture question, I personally prefer hanging a light fixture. Mine are hung from the ceiling, but this product might work well in your situation ...(sorry that the following is such a long url, but it took a long time to find it, so I guess it had to be long, Eh?):
http://zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDeta ... RsZXMiO319
--Just open up a new window and paste that into the browser, press go and it should take you to the intended page. They have them at Petco, online and wherever.
Anyway, it is such a good idea to have your light fixture (the part holding the lamp, ummm the bulb) very secure, so if it gets bumped, it won't dip down into the water - the electricity could kill your turtle, might even start a fire. I am leary of clamps, because they are not totally stable. But, that's just me.
Let's see, ...ceramic bulb? For clarification, ceramic pertains to the fixture, the part that you screw the bulb into. Ceramic can withstand high temperatures, it won't melt or whatever. Ceramic is good/safe.
The UVB? It makes sense that he started to bask once you moved the UVB to the white fixture. It is farther away, so the UVB levels are less and turtles are sensitive to that.
It is important for your turtle's health that the UVB intensity is not too much. In general, have the UVB 12" (31cm) or more above your little turtle's head, like 12" to 15" (31cm to 38cm) or more even. (If you have a UVB meter, you could measure the UVB to be sure you are within healthy limits, but if not, then 12" to 15" away from directly above the dock could be safe.) Another thing to consider seriously is, because the tank space is pretty small, your turtle can't get very far away from the UV light when he needs to, so having the UVB level low (the farther away it is from the turtle, the lower the level of UVB that will strike your turtle) to begin with works in his favor, too. But, some UVB is better than no UVB.
--A disclaimer -- I don't know anything about the UVB bulb you are using, so I'm guessing it is of normal strength and, therefore that 12-15" would be fine. I want to only be of help and not give advice which would cause harm, truly! For your safety, do not look directly at the UVB light; wear UV blocking sunglasses. That's easy.
Where you live, is it warm outside during the day this time of year or is it cold?
Now, the 70w bulb? (Notice how it takes a lot less words and time to ask a question than it does to answer it? Interesting.... I apologize for my wordiness!! ) Okay, the 70w bulb... For the heat, the temperature is what matters, more than the wattage. Do you have a thermometer that you could use to measure the air temperature at your turtle's level on his dock? Set the 70w bulb far enough away from the tank so that the temp at his basking area is about 90 degrees F (or 32C). Not much more - you don't want to cook him - and he doesn't have any place to go to get away from the heat when he needs to. Plus, it will really heat up his water, regardless of the temperature you set on the water heater thermostat, I'd guess. Check the temperature whenever you think of it, to be careful he doesn't over heat. Get to know how it increases during the day, the longer it is on. Remember, he is trapped inside that tank and can't get out if he needs to.
I do wonder what kind of light your 70w bulb puts out. Is it incandescent?
Along that line, you can use an incandescent bulb, a regular light bulb, to get heat. It gives off visible light and that would not hurt your turtle (as long as you have it far enough away that the heat isn't too high). And they are very inexpensive. You could get a "soft" light incandescent bulb to lessen the brightness, while still having the heat. You could instead use an infrared bulb, which would give off heat, but no visible light. That would lessen how bright his tank is.
Well, lucky for you, I am finally finished
. I think that is all you asked about, so far.
