Being quite new to herping ( about a year) I can not emphasize the importance of UV tubes and the importance of replacing them as per manufacturers instructions.

I actually thought there was something wrong with my little one (iguana) until I described my set up on a thread. Lacey answered and suggested perhaps after 8 months my UV tube needed replacing. How right was she. The difference in just a few days is amazing he's even more alert and eating me out of house and home.

So remember replace your tubes every 6 months. If you have a bad memory like me use your outlook diary or the old fashioned wall calender.

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Kirsty
0.0.1 Green Iguana

Or you could simply take a permanent marker and write the date you installed them on the end of the tube.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I order new tubes the same months every year, that way I know that October and April I need to have an extra $200 or so in my account to cover the brats.

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"What is now proven was once only imagined." - William Blake

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

Or purchase a bulb with a longer rated life span, something tested.

Hello,

For those of you that really want to know the impact and difference between "tubes" and the SB Flood displayed, think about this. Your new flourescent would fall in under the 32" margin on that chart, BRAND NEW at 10"! (I think I am actually placing it salightly higher than what it actually would read.)

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Rich and all,

Dont you think the uW/sq cm is a more important figure the 3%, 5%, 7% etc. Thanks to some old posts I found, i belive it was Merlin, who linked the uk UV site, great info. Maybe, if it hasn't already been done, someone could write a dunnies guide to UVA/B, who what where when and the important numbers.

They have Tube info here (http://www.uvguide.co.uk/fluorescenttubes.htm)

Two graphs of interest, under the tubes section, are Burn-in (shows a 10% decay in 100 hours) and the long term decay of nearly 40% in a year.

I sound like a salesman . . .