Guide for Lighting and Heating a Turtle Tank and Basking Area

One of the first things that you have to know about a pet turtle is how to correctly light the tank and how to get a good temperature for the basking area. In the beginning, you can be overwhelmed by all the different types of bulbs available and all the different types of light.

So to help you with that I made this guide that will go over everything that you need to know and do to properly light and heat a turtle tank and the basking area.

So let’s start with one of the essential things that you have to do.

Lighting and heating the turtle basking area

For the basking area, you will need two different types of light, one type of light that produces heat and another that produces UVB light.

UVB Light

Let’s start by talking about and choosing a good UVB light.

What is UVB light and why do turtles need it?

UVB light is a light spectrum of the UV light that plays a very important role in the life of most reptiles, and that also includes turtles. UVB light plays a vital role in the production of Vitamin D3 which is essential for the calcium in the body. Without UVB light the turtles ( as well as humans and many other species ) won’t be able to get the proper amount of calcium which can lead to improper bone growth, metabolic bone disease, softshell, shell rot, and many other bad things.

Difference between UVB and UVA light

When choosing a light bulb you have to be careful not to confuse UVB light with UVA light. UVA light helps regulate behaviors such as feeding, diurnal movement, mating, and similar activities. And while all those things are good, this is not the kind of light bulb that you want to get for your turtle.

How to choose a good UVB bulb (tube vs compact)

The first and most important thing that you have to do when buying a UVB light is to make sure that the box says something like: “This bulb produces UVB wavelength light” or something similar to this.

Now let’s talk about the two different forms in which you can get get the UVB light

Bulb light

Bulb light, sometimes also referred to as “compact light” is one of the two options. They look like most normal white light bulbs and they are usually easy to find and not very expensive. But they can sometimes cause photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. Photo-kerato-conjunctivitis is basically a problem with the eyes that can occur due to overexposure to UVB light. But besides that, there is no problem with them.

Tube light

Tube lights are what most people would recommend you to get, and I also agree with that. The biggest advantage that they have over is that they are completely safe, there are no known problems like in the case of the bulb with the photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. They can be a little more expensive than the bulbs but not by any considerable amount. So overall I would call the tubes the better choice.

My favourite UVB light

I’ve used a lot of different types of bulbs and tubes over time to light my turtle’s basking area. And here are my favorite bulbs and tubes.

The bulbs that I’ve used are the Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 UVB Mini Compact Fluorescent. My turtles had no problem while I was using those bulbs, so in my experience, they are completely safe. And here is the Lamp Fixture that I used, the cool thing about this lamp fixture is that it allows you to place the lighting and the basking bulbs in the same fixture so you don’t have to get two different ones. I was completely happy with this setup, and my turtles had no health problems. The only reason I changed them is that I was moving and I took that opportunity to change things up for my turtles as well.

At the moment I am using the Zilla Slimline Tropical 25 UVB T8 Fluorescent Fixture with the Zilla UVB Fluorescent Bulb, and I am really liking this setup, and so do my turtles. The only thing that you have to be careful of when you get this setup is that you have to make sure that you have a good place where to put it because it won’t be as easy to place as a bulb setup. Other than that I can just say that this tube UVB light is working great.

When to change the bulb/tube

One final thing that you have to know about UVB light is that the bulbs and the tubes will start producing the UVB light even if they will still produce normal light. Most manufacturers will recommend you to replace them after 12 months, but from my experience, that is too long. After 12 months every bit of UVB light will be gone from that light so I would recommend you to replace it somewhere between 7 and 8 months. At around that time the bulb/tube will have lost most of its capacity to produce UVB light but not all of it.

There are some special devices that are called UV meters that will help you read the UVB light levels in a bulb, I will talk about them in the other essential products section of this guide.

Heating the basking area

Now that the UVB light part is covered it’s time to move to the heating part.

Why do turtles need heating light ?

Turtles are cold-blooded reptiles so the temperature of their body depends on the temperature of the environment. So the simplest answer to this is to warm up, this answer might seem too simple at the first glance but in reality, the only reason pet turtles need a heating lamp is to warm up, the light from the UVB light usually takes care of the rest of the needs.

How to choose a good heating light/heating lamp

The thing that you have to look for in a good heating bulb is durability. You don’t want to have a bulb that will go out after only a couple of days of usage. And another important thing that you have to choose is the power, and the power of a light bulb is given by the wattage.

How to choose the wattage

Most heat bulbs won’t say “this is a 95°F bulb”, instead they will say that this is a 50-watt bulb or a 75-watt bulb.

This is because a 50-watt bulb can generate 75°F as well as 105°F. The amount of heat a bulb will give is influenced by the distance from the ground.

Here is a table showing what temperatures you should expect depending on the distance.

Depending on the room temperature you might get slightly different temperatures, but the difference shouldn’t be significant.

As you can see the closer the bulb is to the ground/turtle the more heat it will release. But there is a limit to how close you can get it. From my experience you shouldn’t get the bulb any closer than 4 inches, if you move it any closer there is a real chance that your turtle will get burnt.

As for how far away you can move the bulb, the answer is pretty far. As long as your turtle gets enough heat from the bulb, you can place it as far as you want.

Turtle basking temperatures

Now that you know how to choose a heating light let’s talk about what temperature your turtle needs in the basking area.

For most turtle species the basking area should be 10 degrees Fahrenheit ( 5 – 6 degrees Celsius ) warmer than the water. Generally, a good basking area temperature is between 85 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

And here is a list of the most common pet turtles and their ideal basking area temperatures:

My favourite heating light

I am a long-time user of the Exo Terra Swamp Glo Basking Spot Lamp. Depending on your needs you can choose between the 50,75 and 100-watt options. Those bulbs will last a long time and they will produce enough heat for your turtles. Because I had no problems with them I didn’t feel the need to try too many other options since those bulbs worked great for me and my turtles.

For the lamp fixture, I use this one that allows me to put both the light the UVB bulb and the heating bulb in the same place. Right now I am using both slots for two 75 watt heating bulbs and it still works great.

Mercury vapor bulbs

At this point, you might already be thinking why there is no bulb that can take care of both the UVB light and the heating needs of your turtle. Well, there are such bulbs and they are called mercury vapor bulbs.

Advantages and disadvantages of mercury vapor bulbs over a classic 2 bulb setup

The most obvious advantage of the mercury vapor bulbs over the classic setup is the space required. If you are lacking space in the room for your tank this bulb can be really helpful.

The price difference is not that big, and depending on the brands you use it can go either way. You can end up spending more on one mercury vapor bulb than on two bulbs from the classic setup. Or you can end up saving some money, it all depends on the specific products that you are using. So I can add the price to advantages neither to disadvantages.

The biggest disadvantage is that some of them will occasionally explode, and in that process, they can hurt the turtle really bad. I have no idea why this can happen, but maybe later this won’t be a problem. This doesn’t mean that you have a 50% chance that it will explode or even a 10% chance, if chances were that high they wouldn’t be on the market at all. But I don’t feel comfortable knowing that this can happen when I could just choose another type of light bulb.

Recommended product

I haven’t tried any kind of mercury vapor bulb but from what I could find out people are generally pleased with the Evergreen Pet Supplies 100 Watt UVA UVB Mercury Vapor Bulb. In the reviews, I didn’t see anybody say anything about explosions. So if you want to try one of these bulbs this one seems like a good choice.

How long should the lights be on ?

You should try to let your lights on the same period that the sun is up in the sky, this can change with the seasons but a good overall time period is between 10 and 14 hours.

Lighting the tank

Lighting the tank is very easy because you just need a normal light that will put any kind of brightness over the tank. You don’t need any kind of special light bulb for this. You can also use the room light for this, but you will have to keep it on for a long time so this isn’t usually the best option. But any type of light will generally be up for the job.

My favourite tank light

I choose to use the NICREW ClassicLED Aquarium Light for my turtle tank. There are some really great things about this light. One of the best things is that the light is powerful enough to help the plants grow really fast., a lot of lights are not powerful enough to help the plants grow and that can be kind of annoying sometimes, but with this lamp, I had no problems with this. Another great thing is that it won’t get damaged as soon as a couple of drops of water hit it. In the past, I used lamps that would stop working as soon as a drop of water hit them, but this one seems to have no problem with this ( but this doesn’t mean that you should drop it inside the tank and expect it to work just fine after that). Another thing that I like about it is the fact that it’s really easy to put over the tank and remove it, while still being very stable.

Other essential products

Here are some other products that will make it a lot easier for you to make sure that your turtle will have the best conditions.

Timer

This is really an essential product that you should own, in my case, it made my life a lot easier than I could have ever expected. This timer will automatically turn the lights on and off at certain time periods that you will set. This way you will never have to worry about forgetting to turn the lights on for your turtle when you are leaving for work or school, this will make the whole process automatic. If you could purchase just one thing that could take care of the light and temperature of your turtle’s basking area this would be it.

Here is a link to Amazon where you can check the pricing: US Plug Format, EU Plug Format.

Infrared laser temperature measurer

At first, it might seem a little over the top but it actually is very useful and it can be used for other purposes too not just for checking the temperature of your turtles’ basking area. It can also be used in the kitchen when you are making food, or to check the temperature in the room. Overall it’s extremely helpful and it can sometimes be fun to play with. And it’s not even expensive as you might have thought.

Here is a link to Amazon to check the current pricing.

UV meter

UV meters are really useful because they will let you know exactly when you will have to change the UVB bulb for your turtle. And it can also be used in other circumstances as well. It can be really useful when you want to go outside or to the beach and you don’t know if you should put sunscreen on or not.

Here is a link to Amazon to check the current pricing.

Night Light

Leaving the lights on during the day is not a good idea, they will annoy the turtle and will increase your electricity bill. But if you want to look at your turtle during the night there are special night lights that will allow you to do that. Those night lamps will emit very faint light that won’t disturb the turtle but it will allow you to see your turtle better during the night. They usually come in red and blue. But some turtles seem to be disturbed by the red ones so for my night lamp I choose a blue lighted one.

Those lights also produce some heat so it’s up to you to decide if you want to leave them on during the night or you just want to turn them on just when you want to see your turtle. If you have baby turtles it would be a good idea to leave them on during the night because they require more heat than adults.

Here is a link to Amazon to the night light bulbs that I am using.

Safety Tips

Don’t look directly at the light sources, it doesn’t matter if they are the UVB light bulb, the heating bulb, or the mercury vapor bulbs, they can all damage your eyes. The UVB light is the most dangerous but that doesn’t mean that the others will not cause permanent damage.

Water and electricity don’t mix too well so make sure that they won’t get into contact. Make sure that all the wires are very well isolated and as far away from the water as possible.

Keep the wires away from your turtle. Your turtle can end up chewing on the wires and get electrocuted in the process. So The wires should be as far and as inaccessible to the turtle as possible.

Related Questions

Do turtles need a heat lamp at night? No, turtle’s won’t go basking during the night so there is no need to leave them on during the night.

Do turtles need a heat lamp at night? Yes, tortoises are still turtles and most of them need to bask, so they will need a heat lamp to do so.

How long should a turtle basking light be on? Between 10 and 14 hours.

Do all turtles need a heat lamp? Not all turtle species bask, so not all of them will need a basking area so they will also need no heat lamp? Even if they don’t bask they will still need a UVB light source.

Will something bad happen to my turtle if I forget to turn the lamps on? If you forget for only one day your turtle should be fine as long as you don’t do this again. Turtles can resist without light for some time but if you forget to turn the lamps on repeatedly your turtle will start having health problems.

Why do turtles need lamps for light and heating? In the wild turtles get all the light and heat they need from the sun. If you keep your pet turtle indoors you will have to provide a replacement for the light and heat that it would normally get from the sun

Conclusion

So let’s make a quick recap of everything that you have to know and do to ensure that your turtle has proper light in the tank and that it gets enough light and heat in the basking area.

For the tank you should remember that any type of light will do as long as it will also cover the aquarium, If you want your plants to grow you will need a more powerful light, otherwise, any light source should be good.

For the basking area, you should make sure that the bulbs emit UVB light, try not to confuse it with UVA or UVC light, they are very different and do different things. The UVB light helps with the calcium in the organism that ensures healthy development of the bones and a healthy shell. There are two main types of UVB light sources, light bulbs, and light tubes. Both of them work great but the light tubes are considered a lot safer. And remember that the light tubes and bulbs have to be changed around 7 and 8 months, even if they still produce light that light doesn’t contain enough ( or any in some cases ) UVB light.

Heating the basking area is done with the help of heating bulbs/heating lamps. You choose a heating bulb based on its power that is measured in watts, more watts means that it will generate more heat. Most turtles need a basking area with a temperature that is somewhere between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. You should also be careful how far or close you place the bulb to the basking area, too far and the bulb won’t produce enough heat, too close and you could hurt your turtle.

And here is a shortlist of the products that I recommended to you through the guide:

Aquarium Lights:  NICREW ClassicLED Aquarium Light

UVB Bulbs: Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 UVB Mini Compact Fluorescent

UVB Tube + Fixture: Zilla Slimline Tropical 25 UVB T8 Fluorescent Fixture, Zilla UVB Fluorescent Bulb

Heating Bulb: Exo Terra Swamp Glo Basking Spot Lamp

Heating and UVB Light Fixture: Zoo Med Aquatic Turtle Uvb & Heat Lighting Kit

Mercury Vapor Bulb:  Evergreen Pet Supplies 100 Watt UVA UVB Mercury Vapor Bulb

Timer: US Plug Format, EU Plug Format.

Infrared Laser Temperature Measurer: link to Amazon

UV Meter: link to Amazon

Night Light: Exo Terra Night-Glo Moonlight

If you have any questions please let me know in the comment section and I will answer them as soon as possible.

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