I haven't considered two long tubes..I'll have to get the second one later though..I've already spent a fortune building. We learned alot from the experience though(you learn from your mistakes) ..thanks for the ideas

When dealing with flourescent tubes I always recommend the longest tube that will reach. The more of the cage that is under the UVB the better.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

zoo med makes a 10.0 which is suppose to be effective up to 20" away the 8.0 are only good a couple of inches away besides having a higher uvb output they are more effective at surface level in the enclosure go with a 10.0 just try to keep from being to close to a basking spot to avoid radiation burns

You are not going to get radiation burns from a flourescent no matter how close to a basking spot you get. They don't even come remotely close to generating the UV that the sun does.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I agree completely with Merlin. I don't believe you could get burned from any fluorescent tube outside of maybe a lab envirment. For the most part that would go for MVB bulbs as well. I believe the heat from them would drive you away long before there were any problems.

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0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Dundee)
1.0.0 Chow/mix Dog (Simba)
1.0.0 Russian Hamster (Bear)
1.1.0 Parakeets (Little Tweet and Feathers)
0.1.0 Long hair gray calico cat (Opal)
0.0.3 Red-eared slider turtles (Mommy, Daddy, Robbie)
0.0.16 Fishy Friends - misc. tropical fish

Does anyone use MVB lights here? I am curious because I would like to get one but if it puts out alot of heat it may be too much for my enclosure.

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~Chris

It is better I think to reach for the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them, at least he who reaches will get a good view, a good stretch and perhaps even a low hanging apple for the effort.
-R.A. Salvatore