Lighting question - New guy

Dutt7

Member
First post and yes, another lighting question. I’ve kept chameleons in the past (over 10 yrs ago) along with other exotics. Now that my kids are older, I’d like to get another. I’ve been reading for months now to get up to speed with the changes in the hobby and am in the process of ordering/setting up everything.

The one question that I have is in regards to the amount of uvb lighting needed. I have a few fixtures that I can use - mainly a single t5ho, a dual t5ho and single and dual dome lights.

The enclosure will be probably be 2x2x4 and my question is simply will a single 24” t5ho be sufficient for this size? I will probably have a live plant or two in the cage.

If sufficient - I could do the single t5ho along with utilizing the dual domes for a plant specific grow light and basking light.

If not, I could use the dual t5ho and run two uvb bulbs along with the dual dome.

Or even run the dual t5ho with single uvb and other a 6500k for the plant and single dome for basking.

Thanks in advance for the help. Taking it slow but can’t wait to have everything setup for a new Cham, which will probably be a male Panther.
 
First post and yes, another lighting question. I’ve kept chameleons in the past (over 10 yrs ago) along with other exotics. Now that my kids are older, I’d like to get another. I’ve been reading for months now to get up to speed with the changes in the hobby and am in the process of ordering/setting up everything.

The one question that I have is in regards to the amount of uvb lighting needed. I have a few fixtures that I can use - mainly a single t5ho, a dual t5ho and single and dual dome lights.

The enclosure will be probably be 2x2x4 and my question is simply will a single 24” t5ho be sufficient for this size? I will probably have a live plant or two in the cage.

If sufficient - I could do the single t5ho along with utilizing the dual domes for a plant specific grow light and basking light.

If not, I could use the dual t5ho and run two uvb bulbs along with the dual dome.

Or even run the dual t5ho with single uvb and other a 6500k for the plant and single dome for basking.

Thanks in advance for the help. Taking it slow but can’t wait to have everything setup for a new Cham, which will probably be a male Panther.
Hello and welcome back to the hobby! What species you thinking of returning too? Reason I ask is different chameleons require different levels of UVI
 

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I’d go with either a single 6% Arcadia and 6500k plant bulb for the dual fixture and a single 6% Arcadia for the single fixture. Unless you have a 6.5 solarmeter to check your uvi, always go with the 6% to be on the safe side. For the single fixture setup you can add led spotlight bulbs if you have some extra domes to put them in. This all depends on what kind of plants your using, a Pothos doesn’t need the same light as say a hibiscus.
 
You want your basking and uvb branches to be about 7-8 inches away from that type of light setup.
 
My recommendation is a 10.0 ZooMed or 12% Arcadia in your dual with a 6500k. Reason I say 10.0 or 12% is unless you're fixture has reflectors for each bulb the 6500k plant bulb will dissipate the UVB so a 12% or 10.0 will help with that.
 
My recommendation is a 10.0 ZooMed or 12% Arcadia in your dual with a 6500k. Reason I say 10.0 or 12% is unless you're fixture has reflectors for each bulb the 6500k plant bulb will dissipate the UVB so a 12% or 10.0 will help with that.
That’s true I wasn’t thinking about the reflectors. Being that the fixtures are 10 years old they probably don’t have any!
 
Looks like you're getting good advice plus with your experience your set up will be great. Good for you for checking out the updated husbandry though.
I'd get a new fixture with reflectors IMO.
When your ready for a baby @Chameleon Mike has a clutch of babies that are almost ready for forever homes. I’m getting one from him soon


Thanks for the plug. I'd be happy to set you up with a beautiful Panther if you so choose.
 
Lol I didn’t keep my equipment from 10 years ago. I can buy a new fixture but have a friend that I’m getting a few items from. So I was basically trying to figure out if I can use a single uvb bulb in a fixture like in the picture (have a few of these) or if I need two - I can run them in the dual fixture
 

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I have that same fixture from light your reptiles and am using the 6% Arcadia and the 6500k bulb. This is in a 24x24x48 cage with the highest branches 7-8 inches from the fixture. The size of your cage and how much foliage all play a roll into how much UVB power you need. I’ll tag someone who knows lighting better than me that can help. @nightanole
 
You will need a 6% per 4sqft. So a 2x2 base will need 1 6%, aka a 22" T5HO. If you want plants, you will also need another 22" T5HO 6500k. And if you have "high light" plans, odds are you will need a quad with a 6% on each outside, and 6500k on the 2 inside slots.

If you are going with a single, either the LYR or the nanotech would be great. If you are going for a double or quad i recommend the Hydrofarm Agrobrite since they have good balasts and individual reflectors:

https://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-Agrobrite-FLT48-Fluorescent-System/dp/B0031CA3OM
 
Love the agrobrite fixture. It’s been doing well. Cham and Pothos doing great. Some larger plants needed a little more light so I supplemented a led spotlight as well with the dual bulb agrobrite fixture.
 
Love the agrobrite fixture. It’s been doing well. Cham and Pothos doing great. Some larger plants needed a little more light so I supplemented a led spotlight as well with the dual bulb agrobrite fixture.

You have the dual agrobrite, one bulb is uvb and the other is a plant bulb? I'm planning on getting the quad agrobrite so I'll have three plant bulbs. Just trying to plan out if this will be enough light. I'm thinking it will.
 
It holds 2 bulbs, one is the uvb and other is 6500k. In my personal experience, that is not enough light for most plants other than pothos maybe. I would recommend the 4 bulbs setup with 2 uvb and 2 6500k if trying to grow anything other than extremely low light plants.
 
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