A couple questions about lighting!

[Giantspleen]

I am having a hard time finding any answers to my questions. I am building an enclosure for my two chameleons (I will add pictures of the build for reference) one is a female Jackson's and one is a male veiled. I want to ensure they get the proper lighting as this is going to be a bigger enclosure than I'm used to.

First, I was wondering if there was any pros or cons in using a uvb 5.0 vs a uvb 10.0. I see that kits always come with a 5.0 but I don't really understand what those numbers mean. Would I want to use a 10 in a bigger enclosure?

Second, I would like to have some live plants in the enclosures too. I have some led grow lights that I have been considering mounting to the top. My question is; will having grow lights in the enclosures have any negative impact on the chameleons? Too much light? Anything like that.

Thank you in advance. Any help on maintaining balanced heat in a larger enclosure is also welcome.

 

[Remkon]

5.0 or 10.0 will not make a difference in a bigger enclosure as it describes the UVB output of the lamp and not the reach of it which will be about the same.

I would advise you to go with T5 HO lights as these do give some more range and more, brighter light.
For the jax you should with 5.0 (or arcadia 6%) for sure as they are a montane species that will typically receive more filtered sunlight... For the veiled I would start with 5.0 until it's an adult but you could possibly upgrade to 10.0 (arcadia 10%) once he reaches adulthood, tho I don't think this will only benefit him if there's a lot of foliage between your animal and the UVB source.

It can be OK to use plantlights in the enclosure, it may however depend on the type of light used. I'm using jungledawn lights which are far from the cheapest plantlights so possibly someone has an alternative.

There's some folk on here with a more advanced understanding on lighting than I have so I hope they will chip in.

 

[Giantspleen]

Thanks for the info! I appreciate it. I'll just stick with the 5.0 for now then.
The lights for the plants are actually grow lights, not just plant lights, focused on red spectrum. I do have a plant (I can't remember the name but it's one of the recommended Cham plants) in my Jackson enclosure at the moment and it seems to be doing fine and it's been in there for about 7 months so maybe it's not even necessary to add the grow light? I just thought with a larger cage (4 for compared to 30 inches) the light not be strong enough to reach that extra foot and a half.