Equipment Review and Discussion :: MVB and new Set-up

[AllisonChains]

So, in discovering that my UV bulb was the cause if Izzy and her eye problems, I am looking into the MVB as she is in a 55 gallon right now. What wattage would be recommended?

On one hand, I don't like the thought of just discarding the basking lamp as there is nothing wrong with it at all and it is less than a month old.

The other hand, I want to look at getting a floor lamp stand to to adjust over the tank, also. I have her basking light clamped to the side right now and it makes me nervous sometimes. I don't have a cover right now as I can't find one that I wouldn't have to completely tear up to make work!

I am looking at something like this, but it would have to be a lot taller as there isn't any room on her tank stand to put it, so I would have to put it in the floor.



Also, if I did happen to find a floor lamp at Office Depot, Wal-Mart or whatever - would the socket be OK for a MVB? It would need to be ceramic, right?

[jenaero]

I have that lamp stand for my boxie enclosure. It extends to 4 or 6 feet I think...it's on the side of the box anyway. I love it.

As far as bulbs, I use the Powersun 100w or the TRex Active UV Heat bulb in 100w.

I used the clamp lamp I already had (the stand doesnt come with the lamp that you see there in the pic)

[marisa]

I have that stand as well (the regular size, it comes in small and regular, unless they've come out with another size) and am using it on the floor with a 40-gallon stock tank and a 100-watt MVB. The one I have extends to about 3 feet.

If you were to use a floor lamp that would suspend the bulb over the basking area, make sure the socket that the bulb screws into is ceramic (the bulb gives off a lot of heat), the dome (nothing plastic) is larger rather than smaller (10 inches would be good), and that the fixture is rated for at least the wattage of the bulb, preferably more (all the domes I use are rated for at least 250 watts). To me, it would be safer to buy the stand and a fixture meant for high wattage bulbs.