Duel light canopy

Hello all,
I new to this and have recently acquired a 4 month old veiled male. Had him for two weeks now. I have him in a 18x18x36 home with a ficus and a small pothos. I was wondering if anyone has the exo-terra dual light canopy. My thinking is one bulb 5.0 UVB and a second for the plants. Will this combo be healthy for my Lil guy? Thanks in advance

yeah plenty of ppl use plant lights and dual fixtures. im not sure about what exo-terra model fixture your talking about but check out the site sponsor diycages and they have a dual light fixture that looks promising.

troykoch said:

Hello all,
I new to this and have recently acquired a 4 month old veiled male. Had him for two weeks now. I have him in a 18x18x36 home with a ficus and a small pothos. I was wondering if anyone has the exo-terra dual light canopy. My thinking is one bulb 5.0 UVB and a second for the plants. Will this combo be healthy for my Lil guy? Thanks in advance

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Just go to Lowes, Walmart, HD etc. and get a dual fixture for around 10 to 15$ Much cheaper than the ones with a lizard on the package While at Lowes or HD pick up a 6500K tube for the plants. This is what I use on all of my cages when my animals are housed indoors. The plants grow like weeds plus the 6500K tube puts out a very natural looking light.

It will work but you with pay a healthy premium for it. If money isn't an issue and you don't have 50 chams to light then by all means buy one. I buy a brand made by utili tech from Lowes for $12.00. It is a dual T8 fixture and works quite well. I have modified the hoods just a bit to direct the UVB into the cages a little better. So I think it is the cheapest and best option. I put my reptisun 5.0 for the chams and a 6500k flourescent tube for plants in the fixture and it does a great job. Just keep the receipt and box, so if something happens you can go replace it with no money out of pocket.

Jared Knows his stuff BTW....So listen to him.

yeah ive tried so many times lookin for fixtures at lowes and hd but the only ones i could find were either 4 ft. or t12 models. which now that i built my drain table i actually need the 4ft. one to stretch across for both cages.

Yes, I buy the 4 footers. They cover 2 large enclosures and the price on a 48" uvb from petmountain.com is only $12 per uvb bulb + shipping. This is the same price for an 18".

thanks for the info tkil. as for the plant light one should be good enough huh! cause i was thinkin about using two plant lights just to be sure the bottom of the plants get enough light too.

Manik6 said:

thanks for the info tkil. as for the plant light one should be good enough huh! cause i was thinkin about using two plant lights just to be sure the bottom of the plants get enough light too.

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I use one 6500k flourescent tube and it grows the Hibiscus with no problems. However, you can try 2 because It probably can only help grow more foliage on the plants.

Manik6 said:

yeah ive tried so many times lookin for fixtures at lowes and hd but the only ones i could find were either 4 ft. or t12 models. which now that i built my drain table i actually need the 4ft. one to stretch across for both cages.

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They do sell dual 24" T8 fixtures at both HD and Lowe's. HD has the cheaper one I think... $20. You will not find 6500K T8 lamps in 24" length at either store, though... only the 48" are sold in T8 size.... They do sell a T12 in 24" at some Lowe's (I think....). I know for sure they have the T12 36" 6500K lamps.

We just bought the 24" Dual light hood from DYI Cages and we love it!! Our cage is 24x24x48 and the one 5.0 we had before just wasn't enough.

We are using a Repti glo 2.0 for the plants and visual light and a Repti glo 10.0 for UVB. Our cham looks much brighter and healthier now.

Below is the link for the light hood, $50 including shipping and we had it in 4 days. We ordered the bulbs from Amazon for a really good price ($29 for both including shipping).

http://diycages.com/15264/22322.html

Hope this helps!

wow $50 is a lot of money when you can walk around the corner to your local hardware store and get a similar fixture for under $30.

Not really when you consider it has built in reflector which he cheap ones at hd and lowes dont have. Personally, I dont care for the homemade reflectors people make using tin foil and other things. Plus the diy fixtures have nice rocker switches for turning on the lights and you can operate one bulb if needed and not use the other. I have seen write ups on cheap fixtures and they often dont produce the same output as the more expensive fixtures.

Texas Panther Man said:

Not really when you consider it has built in reflector which he cheap ones at hd and lowes dont have. Personally, I dont care for the homemade reflectors people make using tin foil and other things. Plus the diy fixtures have nice rocker switches for turning on the lights and you can operate one bulb if needed and not use the other. I have seen write ups on cheap fixtures and they often dont produce the same output as the more expensive fixtures.

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lol ok.

I would really like to see the output comparisons you speak of.

Most people use timers on their lights, so what use is an on off switch?

If you like to pay more than you need to for a light fixture, I am glad you feel the need.

Summoner have you ever used the product in question? If not then you cant really give an opinion on it can you. I have used diy's dual fixtures and they are a well made product. And as far as timers go no one mentioned that but you. What i was saying was you can use one bulb if need be and leave the other slot empty or have them come on independently. Some of us like to slowly increase light output to simulate dawn to mid day to dusk cycles. You cant do that with a hd fixture. Sometimes the cheapest aint the best!

+1 for the DIY hoods. I have both the triple screw-in as well as the dual 24" tube. I thought they were a good value, especially considering shipping is included in the price.

Yeah I just bought one of the cheap ones at hd. A 4ft. And I must say even with two 6500k bulbs the light is pretty bright at the top but without a good reflector (which it doesnt have) the light doesnt even penetrate past the top foilage of my shefflera. As soon as I get some extra cash I will be returning it for a better built fixture that I saw with an awesome reflector for only $20 more and the canopy was much wider. Needless to say, u get what u pay for.

Texas Panther Man said:

Summoner have you ever used the product in question? If not then you cant really give an opinion on it can you. I have used diy's dual fixtures and they are a well made product. And as far as timers go no one mentioned that but you. What i was saying was you can use one bulb if need be and leave the other slot empty or have them come on independently. Some of us like to slowly increase light output to simulate dawn to mid day to dusk cycles. You cant do that with a hd fixture. Sometimes the cheapest aint the best!

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You brought up the light switch and I said people who use timers have no use for on off switches.

You claim cheaper light units don't have good output. I would like you to back that claim up by sharing your resources.

I increase my light out put in my cages by bringing on lights in steps. That is a nose feature to have built in but there is no way I'm going to pay a premium for that when I can do it myself.

I have seen the DIY lights at shows and I choose not to buy it. I can form my own opinions of a product without buying it.

If cheaper works the same as the costly stuff and doesn't have bells and whistles people don't need, why pay more?

And calm down you are so defensive.

Im not being defensive nor am I upset in any way shape or form. I responded in a very straightforward manner. I didnt say anything out of line or disparaging about you. Not sure where your getting that from.

Texas Panther Man said:

Im not being defensive nor am I upset in any way shape or form. I responded in a very straightforward manner. I didnt say anything out of line or disparaging about you. Not sure where your getting that from.

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I think I felt a bit of a defensive tone since you seem adamant about defending the DIY and mentioning my name.

So do you have the data on the different light fixture outputs? I'd like to see this data so when I give advice on which is better about light output I am not mistaken.

I will try to find the thread where it was posted. The guy who posted it had a link to a fl light manufacturers site that showed where they had tested different types of fixtures all using the exact same bulbs. It was an informative thread. I myself used to use the 4ft fixtures from hd and suspend them from the ceiling over 2 cages.
I always used to wonder why some peoples cages looked so much more lit up than mine and we both were using the same number of bulbs and the same wattage basking bulbs. The only diff was the fixtures. If I can find it again I will pm it to you.