New UVB bulb suggestions

[Pooka]

Hi all,
I am going to be upgradeing Pooka to a new terrarium this week to tide her over for a few months while I plan and build my terrarium. After careful consideration of my local humidity and living situations (and price asked for tank) I have decided to go with a 4 foot long glass terrarium with a 2 part sliding screen top. I think the dimensions are 48 inches long x 18 inches wide by 18 inches tall or so. (height may be a bit lower like 12 inches)

All that considered I am also going to be upgradeing my flourescent lighting arrangement for lil Pooka. I know I can skim a bit of cost out of the lighting deal by getting a flourescent light fixture (like the ones used under kitchen cabinets) from walmart and getting a retile UVB tube to fit in it.

I have 2 questions really. What are the common sizes for UVB tubes? 18", 24", 26", 48"? Also, what brand and type do you recommend. I have heard good things about reptisun 5.0 (I think thats the brand) for water dragons. Thanks for the help.

[dragosmom]

Pooka:

Reptisun 5.0 and Iguana 5.0 (same light) scores best on all of the ratings from private individuals for UVB. Just keep in mind once your herp is 9-12 inches away from the light he's not getting much if any UVB from a fluorescent. They don't get hot so they can be placed close to your dragon. You can use several smaller tubes or one larger one-depending upon your cage design. Place your branches so that your dragon can climb on it and be close to the UVB. The reptisun 5.0 will emit measurable UVB up to 12 inches but it will not register at 18 inches. Putting the light inside your viv is definitely preferable to them shining through wire. Glass completely blocks the effectiveness and acrylic greatly reduces it. If you will put your basking spots or heat source close to your branches it encourages your reptile to bask in the optimum UVB spot, also.

[wdm]

I was told the kitchen fixtures aren't good to use, something about the reflextivness I think. I use an aquirum fixture and that seems to work for us and isn't to expensive. My impression is the aquirum and reptile fixtures reflex down more. You could put the question on tricias list thats where I heard about them.

[DaremoAlpha]

I have AWOL in a 48 gallon tank that is 4 ft long and I only use an 18 inch 3 bulb canopy at one end.

I use 75 watt day and night bulbs and a reptisun 5 for uvb. It has worked well for me as not only does he get a hot and cool side to the tank but he also gets a sunny and a shady side too as the side without the light is covered with leftover astroturf to help support the weight of his worm buckets and shower bottle.