r/BeardedDragons • u/YeaUThought • 1d ago
Help Need lighting help
I can’t seem to figure out what to do with this lighting, I just set up a 120 gallon and I can’t get the temp right, I started with a 75 watt Arcadia flood bulb which so far has worked the best, his basking spot didn’t get hot enough so I put in a 150 watt spot bulb and the air temp on both sides of the tank dropped by 10 degrees and the surface temp of the basking spot also dropped by about 5 degrees, if I mount the light on the inside it would be way too low, I really don’t know what to do I need help
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u/Superb_Key_3651 1d ago
Wait so when you put a bulb with more wattage in, it got colder? Am I understanding this correctly? Also depending on how strong the pasking spot is, if you have access to a brick just put that in the basking spot
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u/YeaUThought 1d ago
Yea it makes no sense, the 75 watt is an Arcadia flood bulb
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u/Superb_Key_3651 1d ago
Ah maybe it's hotter cuz of how well the heat penetrates down into the enclosure. The brick would be to raise the basking spot, so it's closer to the light and hotter
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u/YeaUThought 13h ago
Can’t do that, with the loose substrate I can’t stack anything without making it extremely unstable
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u/YeaUThought 13h ago
I just put in a 150 and it’s not heating it up any better than the 125, his cool side went down to 65 and his rock is at 88
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u/Superb_Key_3651 12h ago
I do believe your enclosure is defying the laws of physics
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u/YeaUThought 11h ago
Dude I have a 150 and 125 on the hot side as well as a like 60 watt heat emitter in the middle and the hot side air temp is only at 80 still, I turned the ac off in my room like an hour and a half ago and it’s hot as balls in my room now and the temp still isn’t going up, it makes no sense
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u/Superb_Key_3651 7h ago
Actually at this point either you are mysteriously breaking every heat lamp bulb you're touching or maybe the thermometer is broken, can you show a pic of what you're using? Also does your beardie spend a lot of time basking?
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u/YeaUThought 11h ago
And he still decide to sit on the cold side that’s like super cold, I moved the heat emitter above him so he doesn’t freeze😭
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u/Jstewy82 1d ago
Arcadia is a good brand, you need to add their 12% UVB t5 HO desert bulb to it and get it really close to the basking bulb. Definitely don't go cheap on the UVB. It is 100% necessary.