A Dog And 3 Geckos And 2 Cats

Currently I have mini deep domes on them. They have ceramic heat emitters in one side (attached to a plug that turns it off when the thermometer reaches 75 degrees F) for winter as my house gets really cold for them. I’d like to keep these if possible as I have found them to be incredibly useful for heat without light at night when it is coldest. The other side has Reptisun 5.0 for uvb on a timer. They are not planted yet.

So here is what I am hoping for:

-Keep CHEs

-Have UVB available

-Will keep my plants healthy

-Will not make temperature too hot

Please let me know if any of this doesn’t make sense / is phrased confusingly, I just woke up and don’t have anyone to proofread for comprehension 😅

It sounds like you’re using coil UVB, is that correct? I would get rid of that. Coil bulbs produce a small, concentrated basking area with a high UVI. This is great for a small, diurnal, open basking species but not ideal for larger, crepuscular geckos that typically cryptic bask (like cresties and gargs). I’d replace them with a linear T8 or T5 tube, which will create a larger and gentler basking zone. You want your gecko to be able to fit their entire body into the basking zone provided by the UV and the heat element.

For low UVI-needs geckos in a short tank I’d use something like the Arcadia Shadedweller Arboreal (2.4%) bulb. It’s a slim 12 inch bulb which is perfect to create a lighting gradient but also a sufficiently large basking area. Through Exo Terra mesh, at a distance of about 4-6 inches, the UVI will be 0.7-1.1 with this specific bulb, and then down to 0.1 by the time your gecko gets 12 inches away- so the bottom of the tank will have no detectable UV, but the very top will be at the top of the range for Ferguson Zone 1 geckos. They’re unfortunately not super cheap (about $70 for the fixture and first bulb, and then $20 for replacements, in the US at least) but Arcadia’s bulbs tend to last the longest on the market so you may not need to replace bulbs until 1.5 or even 2 years rather than yearly. This is what I use for my own crested gecko in a 48x24x24 inch tank.

CHE is fine to stay, you want it aligned as closely as possible with the UV tube so that the infrared from the CHE and the UVI from the UV light overlap, creating a sunshine effect- for many reptiles, bright light is a signal to seek warmth in that area.

Since gargoyle geckos and crested geckos are both generally partial baskers, make sure especially that there’s plenty of cover such as foliage, branches, and hides under the UV light. This way they can easily choose between full exposure, partial exposure, and no exposure. It’s typical for these geckos to hide with just their tail or one leg exposed to UV to cryptically bask while they sleep.

Depending on what plants you’re trying to grow you may then need a third plant specific bulb for the full visible spectrum. I’ve generally not had much trouble with pothos, spiderplants, and tradescantia under just a UV bulb and a halogen bulb, but fussier plants might need a little extra. I like the Arcadia Jungle Dawns but they produce a fair amount of heat and are expensive. I’ve also had luck with Sunblaster brand plant lights, and Vivarium Electronics brand too. Some of these companies don’t make short plant lights, so you could get a 3 ft bulb and place it on top of both tanks, if they’re sitting next to each other.

My only question is if you mean 4-6 inches into the tank or would I need to place the light 4-6 inches above the mesh?