All Turtles Message Board

mamboman · Level 1 Joined: 29 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Hello all. I am new to the forum and wanted to ask a couple of questions.
I have a fluval 800 tank with lid. when the lid is down my tank suffers really bad with condensation then i can not see my turtles but if i leave the lid up the basking area goes quite cold for the turtles even though i have a proper reptile light.
I have seen lots of pictures were the tanks have the lid off and a lamp is shining down on the baking area. Are these special lamps? where can i get one? what kind of bulb do they require? please help someone as i am at my wits end.
thank you
lisa Sad

turtle_grl77 · Level 4 Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 985 Location: Florida

You can buy those at any pet store and they take the same type of lights you would buy for your home, only reptil lights.

Tiffany · Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:27 am Post subject:

For basking I use a metal cone shaped light holder available at petstores or home depot. For basking heat I use a normal house bulb of at least 25 watts...check the temp and adjust the light higher or lower to get the right temp. Then I use a uva/uvb strip light over the whole tank....the other half has built wood covers to house those.
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fishandcandy · Level 3 Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 200 Location: Indio, CA

I use 60 watt regular light bulbs. In one tank it's just in a regular clip on desk lamp, in the other it's in a reflective clamp lamp from the hardware section of Walmart. I think it was $5.87. When I put my hand under it I can feel the warmth.

brownmc · Level 2 Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 27

I like the heating light bulbs that have the tight beam. It lets the bulb focus more on one area and therefore creates more heat over that area. The kind I am using is here:

http://www.petco.com/Shop/petco_Product_R_6093_PC_productlist_Nav_259_N_27+113_sku_928879_familyID_12129.aspx

The tigher beam lets it make only the basking spot warm and not everything around it. It really works well in my set up because I have plants all around my basking spot and it keeps the heat from frying my plants. I have the 75 Watt version.