HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have a 20 gallon tank, and I'll be getting a 10 gallon tank in a few weeks. I like the idea of light bulbs for heating and creating a day/night cycle. I know this will dry out a smaller tank, so I'll stick with a UTH for the 10 gallon.I kept seeing people refering to bulbs that were like 15-25 watts. I keep checking both petsmart and petco for bulbs this small, but regular, incandescent shaped bulbs don't seem to come less than 50 watts. However, I saw 15 and 20/25 watt skinny bulbs. They had the incandescent socket, but the bulbs themselves were rather longish, and not much wider than the socket. Are these ok for going in those combo hoods for heating and light? And how long would it take to stabalize the conditions once you get going with the lights?(If I can, I want to take back the 30-40G UTH I got for the 20G tank and get the lights instead... still no crabs but I'm still hopeing to take advantage of the petco sale before it ends...)

As long as it's not a standard aquarium hood which *usually* supports no greater than a 15w bulb (you'll find a warning sticker under the hood if it is) you can use either a standard or a tube. I also found that Petco/Smart had only a limited offering of bulbs and I wound up buying mine at ReptileSupply.com when I bought my combo fixtures. It's possible that Petco/Smart could special order a lower watt to come in with their next delivery. Worth asking anyway. I find it best to run the tank for a good few days. The first day it usually fluctuates, temp climbing or humidity dropping, you also want to rule out that your tank gets too cold at night before you allow occupancy. I go with 3 days myself just to be sure. The first to level off and then 2 days/2 nights to see that it's stable.

Petdiscounters.com has nightcycle bulbs starting at 15 watts and going up to 40 in the tube shape.NightLight bulbs range from 15 watts to 150 watts and shape depends on the wattage- up to 40 watt is tubular. I think that is standard. Every smaller wattage I have seen is tubular shaped.I use 40 watt tubes and they get plenty warm!

When I had my 20G tank I used a Bilight hood that my petsmart had on clearance for $20. I used one 40w tube daylight and on for nightlight. That will keep your tank about 80 on one side and 75 on the other. Like abby said if you have a standard aquarium hood they only support 15w. The tube bulbs are ok to use. It normally does not take long for the conditions to stabalize I say maybe an hour.