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I'm wondering if it's okay to place a cover of some sort over my UVA light (simple incadescent bulb). If I'm correct, UVA serves as light, but mostly heat, so not much is lost if I cover it, right? Currently my UVA isn't close enough to hit the basking temperature, so I have to lower it, but my turtles make a big splash all the time so...

You can cover the uva but not the uvb.

Okay then, good to know.

Cover... how? If you mean by a reflector dome, then both of them can be placed in them.

If you cover the heat bulb, you're going to contain heat. I don't know how hot you're bulb gets, but I'd be careful about possibly starting a fire. Having the heat bulb in a ceramic fixture would be safer as well.

I mean an exterior cover over the bulb, so water can't touch the actual bulb. The fixture is ceramic, and the bulb is hot enough to penetrate a thin cover (which won't burn or melt).