Light hood and uvb

[Ali311]

Can I use a flourescent fixture from home depot and put a reptisun 10.0 in for a uvb light (baby sulcata) or must it be a reptile specific (zoomed) fixture? Recommendations of flourescent fixtures

Also, how do I install a ceramic fixture for a basking lamp into a closed chamber and have it plug in to a wall?

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

The tube and fixture must match up, the source does not matter for 'does it work or not'.

I use T5 HO tubes from ZooMed or Arcadia but get the fixture from ZenHydro, I use the sun blaze fixtures, they are the best bang for the buck and have a good reflector as part of what you get in the box. Some brands you have to buy the reflector separately.

T5 means the tubes are 5/8 inch in diameter, T8 would mean 8/8 inch in dimeter (or one inch). HO means High Output.

Something manufactures have done is make the length of HO and 'regular' tubes and fixtures slightly different. A two foot T8 is 24 inches long, a "two foot" T5 is 22.5 inches long. Some sellers call both 'two foot'. So pay attention to the HO in the description. Also a "2" foot HO tube is 24 watts, while a 2 foot T8 is often 14 watts.

To install a heat lamp inside an enclosure use the reflector sized for the output, those stickers that say '60 watts max' or '100 watts max'. I use screw eyes in the ceiling and suspend the fixture to the proper height, then run the plug through a hole I drill into the enclosure. Duct tape can be used to cover the hole. Slightly more complicated is the cut the plug off the end of the cord, run the cord through a grommet that is in the much smaller hole (than needed for the whole plug), and put a new, or splice the old, plug onto the end of the wire.

 

[Ali311]

The tube and fixture must match up, the source does not matter for 'does it work or not'.

I use T5 HO tubes from ZooMed or Arcadia but get the fixture from ZenHydro, I use the sun blaze fixtures, they are the best bang for the buck and have a good reflector as part of what you get in the box. Some brands you have to buy the reflector separately.

T5 means the tubes are 5/8 inch in diameter, T8 would mean 8/8 inch in dimeter (or one inch). HO means High Output.

Something manufactures have done is make the length of HO and 'regular' tubes and fixtures slightly different. A two foot T8 is 24 inches long, a "two foot" T5 is 22.5 inches long. Some sellers call both 'two foot'. So pay attention to the HO in the description. Also a "2" foot HO tube is 24 watts, while a 2 foot T8 is often 14 watts.

To install a heat lamp inside an enclosure use the reflector sized for the output, those stickers that say '60 watts max' or '100 watts max'. I use screw eyes in the ceiling and suspend the fixture to the proper height, then run the plug through a hole I drill into the enclosure. Duct tape can be used to cover the hole. Slightly more complicated is the cut the plug off the end of the cord, run the cord through a grommet that is in the much smaller hole (than needed for the whole plug), and put a new, or splice the old, plug onto the end of the wire.

It would be very helpful if you would post a pic of the light setup. Thank you.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

It's not a set up, it's a plug and turn on kind of thing. You buy the tube plug it into the fixture, then plug the fixture in to an outlet.

 

[Longhorns1187]

Here's an example of how our lights were installed in a closed chamber.

 

[Ali311]

So uvb runs the entire length of the terranium?

 

[Longhorns1187]

So uvb runs the entire length of the terranium?

We have it pretty much that way in our enclosure, because we have an Egyptian tortoise. But even with the fixtures running about 90% of the enclosure, there is plenty of room for our tortoise to get away from the UVB, if he wants. The ends of each tube give off less UVB compared to the middle of lights and there is quite a variation in UVB readings between the middle, front, and back of the enclosure (being 2 feet deep).