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I am setting up a 125 gallon tank for my two red ear slider kids. Can someone please tell me the best way to provide the proper lighting for them? I can either leave the top open. Or I can use glass cover panels for parts of the tank. I know how important proper lighting is but I am on a budget! Thank you in advance.

The lights need to shine on the basking area with no glass in between the light and the basking area.

You need a UVA, UVB and Heat. The cheapest way is to use a regular incandescent bulb which will provide UVA and Heat. 60,75, 100 watt bulb depending on distance. A hardware store clamp dome light thing is like $7 and will do the trick.

Next you need UVB. The cheapest way here is a CFL (twisty style bulb). These are not available at your hardware store. These are reptile specialty bulbs. Check your local petstore for a 5.0 UVB bulb. Put it in another $7 clamp dome light thing and you're good to go.

This page has great information. Read through all of the links. http://redearslider.com/index_lighting_basking.html

Wow! Those two lights will light up all 125 gallons?? Awesome! Thank you

The lights will not light up the whole tank just the basking area. You would need another light to light up the tank.

The biggest question is though, if you light the tank, will the turtles think that they are getting sun while in the water?

my 300 gal is lit while the basking lights are on. But I have a basement with no window.

Starscream wrote:The biggest question is though, if you light the tank, will the turtles think that they are getting sun while in the water?

I'm certain turtles respond to uv light, their eyes see further int that spectrum than we do. However, I think they bask for heat. There have been threads of people with turtles that wouldn't bask and high temperatures in the water. After lowering the temps, their turtles basked.

So light the whole tank, but put the UVB at the basking area where there is heat.

Or leave part of the tank dark. I like it lit, personally, but as long as the turtle has some areas where it can swim with light, I don't think you are causing problems if you don't light it all.