How should I heat and light this viv??

[StarFall]

I have a 35 gallon hexagon tank, that I plan to put a crested gecko in. It’s about 25 inches tall, 23 inches across at the widest point, with each pane of glass about 12 inches across. The small opening at the top makes it a bit hard for me to figure how to heat and light the viv. I plan to have it bioactive and planted, so a good light is required. What would be the best way to heat it? I lean towards radiant heat panels, but does anyone make them that small? I could also consider a ceramic heat emitter, but I'm not sure what wattage I'd need? I'd rather have a RHP if possible though. Any suggestions for heat/light products are appreciated.

[Andy_G]

Cresties don't really need much of a hot spot and can perish or have negative effects if exposed to temps above 80 degrees for long periods of time, so a lot of people don't even use heat with them, so whatever you use just make sure you aren't overheating the tank. I would only suggest using a heat source if your room temps are below normal room temp range. I have some cresties in a couple of bioactives with a simple CFL that I purchased from a grow store and since the plants I have are low/medium light, it more than does the job, and there's enough heat coming from the lights (even though there's practically none coming off of them at all) to keep the geckos happy and healthy.

[StarFall]

My house gets pretty cold during winter, down to about 50 degrees sometimes, so I'm pretty sure I'd need additional heating in the winter. I'll probably just go with a CHE to keep the temps up when it's colder. What wattage would I need though?

[TRD]

You must use a thermostat and be very very careful heating cresties... usually a UVb CFL/tube gives off plenty of heat on it's own. They do very poorly in temps above 80 F and may stress up to the point they perish when kept above 86 F

Maybe you can move it to a room which has heating?

[StarFall]

Seems it'll actually be about late spring by the time I get my gecko, and then I'm moving in with my dad in the summer so I don't think I'll actually need to worry about heating. Thanks for the help.