75 or 100W Infared Bulb?

[Spirit_Scale]

I finally found a way to rig a heat lamp on Ihysius' tub


Basically, going to buy a small terrarium screen just big enough to fit the fixture, secure it to the lid and voila.

Anyhoo, I'm a bit of a newb (ok, a huge noob---leopard geckos does not a bp keeper make) when it comes to heating wattage.
I'm going to be using the Exo-terra infared heat bulbs and can't decide whether to pick up the 75 or 100W.

The 75W supposed to be at 81 degrees a foot from the light source, while the 100W is 90 at the same distance.
I'm also trying to ambiently heat his whole tub (36x16x13 inches high) to about 80 or so and the house is a rather nippy 68 F.

With that in mind should I grab the 100W and a dimmer to control as necessary?

[Nathan777]

If you're trying to heat the whole tub then you don't want it right on the top of the tub, that will just create a hot spot imo. Suspend it a foot or so above the tub so it warms the whole tub evenly, that also won't require attaching screen which would be bad for humidity and not as secure. I find tubs to act somewhat like a green house in that they trap heat, so the listed specs won't really apply to what your goal is. Whatever wattage you get you'll want a dimmer at a minimum, so yeah might as well get the 100w and dim it down. I have a 75W Exo Terra Night Glo: http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...uctId=11836374 and even if my room drops into the mid 60's it never requires being up more than 50% on the dimmer to heat the whole tub to 80-81. Also i much prefer the black lights to the red lights as it's much less noticeable in a room, more pleasant to look at, and there's been some research posted on the forums that seems to suggest BPs can see red light, so not worth it imo.