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I finally got Filbert into his new 50 long tank. I'm having the same old "he won't bask" problem. The water temp is about 76/78* F and the basking area is only 70* F. I have a 75 watt incandescent bulb as close as reasonably possible to get the temperature up, but the temp over the basking area just isn't getting warm enough. What are some other options to get the basking area to temp?

What is as close as reasonably possible? Maybe try an heating bulb from a pet store? Normal bulbs heat my basking area up perfectly, I wonder what's different with yours?

It's about 5-6 inches away from the basking area, sitting straight down on some of that "egg crate" plastic over the basking dock. Can the air temperature cause a variation in basking temp? (My apartment is pretty cold.)

I would get a stronger lamp, but it might be a bit much for the eggcrate. In the short term, would a second, weaker light help?

I was thinking of getting one of those ceramic heat emitters. http://www.petco.com/product/5003/Zoo-Med-Repticare-Ceramic-Infrared-Heat-Emitters.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch The question, either way, would be how to position all of the lamps over the basking area...

To be honest, I don't think those are worth it. I would try to get a clamp lamp and have it hover the eggcrate. Then use a halogen flood light for the lamp.

I used a 100 watt bulb and draped aluminum foil over the two lights to keep the heat in. I'll look in my photo album to see if I have a picture. I don't know if that will help I don't know how your basking are is set up.

Here's a pic with the aluminum foil.

I'd use a light with a higher wattage.

What color is ur basking area?
because heat is emmitted by infrared light, wich white colored stuff will reflect it
and dark colored stuff will absorb it.
Do you have a heater in your water?
Is your tank almost closed to the ambiant air?
because if you have an open tank, the atmosphere in the tank (the basking area)
will try to get balanced with the room temperature while the water will have more «abilities» to absorb the heat.
one thing you can do to keep the temperature higher in the basking area is put a cover on ur aquarium,
it will keep the temperature higher.
you can also concentrate the light beam by putting aliminium foil around the light, so most of the light goes in the basking area.
because incandescent light bulb have a convergent light beam, wich will go all over the place, including the water.

Well you can try, putting a cover or aluminium foil!
good luck

Thanks for all of the responses! I think that I am going to try the "aluminum foil" approach. The basking area is one of those floating docks, and the top of the tank is open to ambient air. And like I have stated, my apartment is kept rather cool (mainly due to my all-electric heat, to keep the electric bill down!), but I didn't realize that it affected the basking area that drastically.