eastern water dragon help

[rev666]

Hi guys, firstly im kinda new at this reptile thing so id apreciciate any help any of you are willing to give.

im about to own my mates eastern water dragon, im unsure of its age but hes about a foot long. i have almost finished construction of his new home which consists of the following.
It is a 7foot by 2 foot tank at one end i have built a tapered 2 x 3 foot pool which is aprox 3/4 of a foot deep the water is running through a mini reef setup with a wet / dry biological filtration system cycling 130 litres of water around 10 times per hour. It is also keeping the water at around 24 degrees. I have used all natural bush rock and plants as a divider.
On the dry side i have used a bed of crushed rock and sandstone and added some red sand, mainly for color and ive seen a few people use it.
I am about to install 4 fluros two white tri phosphor and 2 uvb. is this enough? should i have the uvb tubes over both ends of the tank or just one? is metal halide lighting good for reptiles? is the water temp too high or too low? i will be adding live plants as well, and a large brancg over the water. i basically want to make his enviroment as authentic as possible.
im open to all suggestions.

if you want to see pics... [ame]http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s81/fleasmechanic666/tank2.jpg[/ame]
thanks

[peterjohnson64]

This sounds quite good Rev and your dragon should enjoy it a lot. that water temperature is fine. Local Sydney Water Dragons would rarely get to enjoy water that warm but clearly the ones in Cairns would so in between won't cause any issues.

The fluro's you talk about a fine but remember that UV from fluros only travels a matter of inches so you need to get him basking near the lights. Also remember that UV is totally filtered out by glass so if the lights are above glass they will be useless.

I actually use mercury vapour globes for my inside dragons. You could set up a 100 watter at one end of the tank (the opposite end of the water I would suggest) and let him use it for basking. That way he will get the UV.

The filtration you have in the water is very good. Water Dragons tend to crap in their water. If they then drink that water they are susceptible to disease that WILL kill them. Keep the water nice and clean and consider a UV filter in it as well to kill any bacteria.

Again mate, great set up. Where are you?

[rev666]

thanks for the help mate, much appreciated. im in bankstown, sydney.

[peterjohnson64]

Thats great that you are in Bankstown, you should come along to Mac Herps on Friday. www.macherps.com for meeting information

[rev666]

cool sounds good, ill try to finish up early at work to make it there. thanks again.