Thursday, January 9, 2014

Green Living Solutions Q&A: What kind of light does a painted turtle need?

Question by Mark: What kind of light does a painted turtle need?
I’ve been on pet websites for awhile trying to order some lights for my 60 gallon tank but I have no idea what the best brand/type is. I have other tanks, but with fish. This one I want a painted turtle in. I also want to know if 60 gallons of water is enough? It’s going to have an extended docking area over half the tank for the land area with a couple of plants if possible. So what light system would be best for live plants and the turtle? Or would the basking light burn the plants? I’ve been reading reviews online but all the ones I liked or seemed viable have bad reviews, like the combination lights. So I figured I’d ask here to get some opinions of other people.

Best answer:

Answer by Robert
60 gallons is way more than enough. As far as lighting, they need a basking spot that gets to about 85-90 degrees during the day, which you can do with an overhead clamp lamp. They also need a 5% UV B light for at least 10 hours a day to prevent metabolic bone and shell disease. Don’t put plants right under the basking light. It gets cooler fairly quickly as you move away from the center of the basking spot, so put your plants where are not in the direct basking light. The UV B light does not effect plants.
Water plants will do better if you have a Colormax or Fish and Plant fluorescent light, but these don’t provide enough heat for basking. For aquatic plants, you need 2- 3 watts of light per gallon to penetrate the water. Land plants should do OK with an incandescent bulb, especially if you place the tank near a window where it gets some sunlight as well.

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Tags:Green, kind, light, Living, need, painted, Solutions, Turtle

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