Need some help with equipment choices for new setup

T

TotalNoob

New Member
Hello all,

First post. My wife is planning on getting a chameleon soon, but we know that it is vital to get the proper equipment and do the research before we purchase the animal.

So far I have purchased the Reptibreeze deluxe XL with the plexiglass front panel.


I could use some help finding the rest of the needed equipment to complete the enclosure. I've read the articles on this site along with all of the FAQ but I could still use some help selecting the exact pieces I need.

To start with I am trying to decide what light fixture to purchase. I know I want a t5 ho . The enclosure is 24 square by 48 tall. Should I be looking at a dual bulb fixture? If so, what bulbs are best. Not too worried about price. I only want to have to purchase the fixture once. I understand the bulbs need replacement regularly.

Thanks In advance!
 
So you will want a 24 inch fixture. I prefer dual bulb fixtures so I can run a UVB bulb 5.0 (6%) or 10.0(12%) depending on species of chameleon and how densely planted and a 6500K bulb to grow plants. Additionally I use a single bulb fixture to run an incandescent bulb for heat/basking spot. The wattage of the bulb depends on your chameleon species and your house temperatures.
 
So, I used to keep reef tanks......lots of them. Used many t5 fixtures back then that emmited a ton of heat. So much so that I had to use a chiller on the tanks to keep the water down to proper temp.

Two t5 bulbs definitely won't create enough heat?
 
I would like to keep the whole exterior of the enclosure as neat and tidy as possible. Not a huge fan of the dome lights. Is there an alternative for a warming source that would look as clean as the t5 fixture hanging above?
 
Hydrofarm Agrobrite is the one with the "good" balast and has individual reflectors.

https://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-Agrobrite-FLT48-Fluorescent-System/dp/B0031CA3OM?th=1

If you go with individual reflectors, you want a 5.0/6%. If you buy one with a mono reflector, you want a 10.0/12% since you will be losing 40-60% of your light output if you go full quad.


I would go with dual 22"s 1 6500k grow, and 1 5.0/6% from reptisun or arcadia.

If you want even more light for plants, then i would start looking into grow led setups.


As with the others, my dual T5 HO 46" never heated the cage, they just got warm to the touch, which caused most lizards that could climb, to turn them into the worlds longest heat rock.
 
Basically there are 3 things you need to provide which typically come from a light source or bulb: UVB, visible light and heat.

UVB is the most important one and you already seem to be on the right track here with T5 HO linear tubes. Reptizoo and Arcadia bulbs are best and whether to get 5.0/6% or 10.0/12% depends on a number of factors including the reflector shape, top screen mesh thickness and distance between bulb to highest branches in your enclosure.

Unlike UVB, there are a few different valid options for visible light. I prefer LEDs due to their strong output per watt, long lifetime and ability to be manipulated with a controller. There are LEDs that can be inserted into T5 fixtures though I have no experience with them.

A simple 60-100 watt incandescent bulb with dome reflector will suffice for heat. Red or ceramic heat bulbs will also work but there is no point for chameleons as these are mainly designed to be used 24-hours or at night. Chameleons do not need heat at night; on the contrary most chameleons are well served by a good drop in temperature after lights go out.
 
TotalNoob said:
If I were to go with led for visible/grow lighting, would a single t5 ho suffice for the UVB on a 24x24 enclosure?
Click to expand...
Most people go with quad fixtures. They run 2 UVB bulbs and 2 6500k plant bulbs. As @nightanole said if they are individually reflected you don't need to go 10.0 or 12% unless your enclosure is heavily heavily planted. If not you definitly want to go higher on the UVB bulbs. Reason being is deconstructive light rays canceling eachother out if not individually reflected. I run 1 t5ho and 2 pool light LED spotlights on each of my enclosures. The led lights have fans and produce enough heat where I no longer use an incandescent heat bulb which barely create enough lumens and tend to always have a yellow tint to them which is, well... very blah. Here's a pic of my setup. You can get the quad fixtures with bulbs from lightyourreptiles.com
20191220_093644.jpg
 
TotalNoob said:
If I were to go with led for visible/grow lighting, would a single t5 ho suffice for the UVB on a 24x24 enclosure?
Click to expand...

Yes it would but you need to make sure to align some higher branches so they are beneath the UVB bulb.

Here is one of my enclosures with DIY LED lighting:

20200104_133615065_02.jpg 20200104_133615065_03.jpg

You can see visible light is provided by 3 LEDs (Bridgelux Vero 18s linked to a StormX LED controller), a single UVB tube in the middle and an incandescent heat bulb in the right corner. I use a similar arrangement for all my panther enclosures.
 
Sounds good. Thank you for the feedback. I know those t5 bulbs can suck up some power so the idea of using LED for the visible light really appeals to me. I know the enclosure I purchased (which hasn't arrived yet) comes with some sort of ambient led lights, but I'm sure it's not nearly enough to handle the growth of live plants in my basement rec room where the new addition will be living. Looks like I will be building a custom hood to house the lighting to keep things tidy. I'm assuming my best bet is to mount it directly to the top of the enclosure to get the t5 as close to the top as possible correct? I would love to suspend it a few inches above if possible.....
 
TotalNoob said:
Sounds good. Thank you for the feedback. I know those t5 bulbs can suck up some power so the idea of using LED for the visible light really appeals to me. I know the enclosure I purchased (which hasn't arrived yet) comes with some sort of ambient led lights, but I'm sure it's not nearly enough to handle the growth of live plants in my basement rec room where the new addition will be living. Looks like I will be building a custom hood to house the lighting to keep things tidy. I'm assuming my best bet is to mount it directly to the top of the enclosure to get the t5 as close to the top as possible correct? I would love to suspend it a few inches above if possible.....
Click to expand...
You want it as close as possible. I'm assuming you bought the ZooMed Reptibreeze LED and yes those LEDs are garbage.
 
CamoChameleonsHuman said:
You want it as close as possible. I'm assuming you bought the ZooMed Reptibreeze LED and yes those LEDs are garbage.
Click to expand...

This is the one I got...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014Z4IOC2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I like the idea of the acrylic panel in front instead of screening, but we will see if the reality is a good as the idea. It has some mixed reviews....


I'm acutally leaning towards this light since I like the low profile and it has the individual reflectors. I used to build my own fixtures, and each bulb was wired to operate separately in a series of eight, but I know some fixtures need to have the bulbs inserted in pairs. Anyone know if these cheap type of lights are set up that it would still operate properly with three bulbs?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071L6RZ85/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1HA3ELYKMTQ4S&psc=1
 
Last edited:
Simple, absurdly bright, and EXTREMELY high CRI, like I was astonished...

I bought some of these as they were cheap, and I got them for my bug rack. I thought the CRI would be a lie, however when renting a spectro meter, I can happily say they are not bunk. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q2FC25J/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza These guys for me, 2 strips boguht at diffrent times one was 97.8RA (CRI) and the other was 98.4RA (CRI) thats actual insanity!

They have shit adhesive, and get pretty hot (I have them currently mounted to wood, you can, I have, but they make the wood pretty warm. I would suggest mounting them to some kind of heatsink, even if its something as simple as a a flat piece of aluminium.

You can get alu sheet, 6x18 inches from home depot for like 10 bucks, a piece of alu angle 8ft long, for another 10 and build a heatsink/fixture. Want acrylic cover use C channel and you can devise a way to slide some acrylic in.

Another good, but sort of pricey option is to Modify a reptisun LED, yank those crap LEDs out, and put these strips in its place. The full 5 meters, will give you around 7k-7500 lumens, which is double a Arcadia jungle dawn.

If you like Slim, and I know you do! You could order a custom piece of aluminium sheet from a Metal site online, make it 24x24 Get some C channel and some angle. Buy your own t5 Ballast and you can buy the T5 holders on Amazon. Get some Xeon/halogen Undershelf lighting, you will use 1.

Then do something like this.

lighting.png


You could mix C and Angles in above to make it hold acrylic over the LED section, and reflect the UVB. use 1 inch C/Angle, and you make a 1inch tall fixture that houses all 3 lights and is the diameter of the cage, then either make feet to hold it above or suspend it above, only slightly (the puck isnt that strong of a heat lamp, I would do a 2-3 inch rise). The heat from the close flo, the leds and the Xeon/Halogen, will raise the temp of the entire top of the cage as well as right below the Puck being the hottest. The LEDs will light your entire cage, very well. Spray paint it black, and it will be a Dang good "topper" for a reptibreeze. It would make the cage look clean, and modern for sure. Why the cage companys dont do something like this is beyond me, it would sell in droves im sure.
 
TotalNoob said:
This is what I use for tape light. I'm a contractor constantly installing lights under and in cabinets. The diffuser is actually really nice and makes it look like a real professional light fixture


Muzata LED Channel System with Milky White Cover Lens, Silver Aluminum Extrusion Profile Housing Diffuser Track for Strip Tape Light 10PACK 1M/3.3FT U Shape U1SW WW 1M, LU1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4DRX7N/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_kq9eEbF5420RK
Click to expand...


Well ya that works for a Strip, however my suggestion was to cut up that 5ms, and run 8 24 inch strips. You could still use those, and you could build a alu or wooden frame to a hold a UVB, the leds and the Puck for sure.
 
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