well I have always used the reptisun 5.0 and zoo med 5.0 iguana flourescent lights...
never even new about this 10.0 reptisun ......
have a few questions that hopefully can b answered correctly ....
this 10.0 must be much better than a 5.0
i have a 7x7x4 Chinese Water Dragon custom viv ..
and also and 8x8x5 green iguana custom viv .......
would it matter how close my reptiles get 2 these flourescent tubes?....
i will be going to purchase 6 of these /3 for each viv and I will also be going for the largest tubes possible........
i just don't want to make the wrong decision on this at all........

www.reptileuv.com the best place for uvb in the world
mega rays do the heating and uvb all in one

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0.0.1 Iguana Pickle
0-1-0 Bearded Dragon Honey
1-1-0 Red Tail Boa Libby&Dogma
1-0-0 Cat Rajha
0-0-1 Charcoal Corn Snake Strider
1-1-0 Chinese Water Dragons Isis & Osiris
1-1-0 Cockitiles Hawk&Ashley
1-0-0 Tangerine Leopard Gecko 9erz
0-1-0 Leopard gecko Jets
1-0-0 Mali Uromastyx Uri
0-0-2 Betas Holly & Go (kids fish)
0-0-1 Red Eared Slider Shelly
R.I.P hamster hamtaro
R.I.P Wolf Lab Cross Kenya

hummmm I really dont like the sound of them at all.......does not mention nothink about uva at all only uvb.......for a dummy like me ....how far away should I have 1 of those bulbs away from my Chinese Water Dragon?

Hello,

I can't give specifics because I am not a UV guru, but I can assure you that the megaray is better than both of the flourescents you are thinking about using.

For those tubes to even be slightly effective, the reptile needs to come within 10"-12" of the tube with 12" being the furthest away.

The SB series I believe suggests 24". I can't be quoted as I am not certain. Hopefully Bob sees this thread and chimes in. He is the designer of the megaRay.

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the 10.0 is effective up to about 18" I believe...definately do the research and double check though.

Any lamp that emits UVB (which is the most important) will also emit UVA. For cages the height you are talking about, the Megarays would be the way to go. With flourescent tubes the majority of the cage would be out of the useable range of the UVB.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Yeah, the others are correct. In order to get to the B range you have to pass through A. Thus, all UVB lights emit UVA as well. Also as the others stated, fluorescent lights can only project the UVB rays to a distance of about 10 inches. Fluorescents are fine for small lizards in small cages, like grass lizards and anoles, but for a larger species in a cage the size of yours, you'll definately want a mercury vapor light.

A self-ballasted MV will give you all the UVB and heat you need, eliminating the need for a seperate heat lamp. They're a more expensive bulb, but they're worth it in the long run. In your case, they're not only worth it, they're essential. A fluorescent just won't do for that cage.

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+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Here is a great site for UV information.....http://www.uvguide.co.uk/

I also use the bulbs from reptileuv.com and I have absolutely no complaints.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

This subject has been well covered here but just to add a bit; the new style tube lighting has a higher level of UVB/A but less visible light and appears very "blue" in color. If using these bulbs, the addition of halogen or 5000K+ tubes should also be used in conjunction.

tube lighting can give you the amount of UVR needed to keep most reptiles healthy. by using good name brand (www.uvguide.co.uk) tube and attaching reflectors and having them close enough. again, the addition of good spectrum bulbs as a complement is absolute necessary. and by this I don't mean ordinary house hold bulbs.

The person that said that the reptileUV site didn't state any UVA readings is correct. my fault just figuring that most would know that the MegaRay would also have UVA. this has not proved to be true and I should have given a better explanation at the site.

The MegaRays, at the **minimum** recommended distances produce about 900uW/cm2 (microwatts) of UVA. it sounds like a big number but is very small compared to nature at about 20000 UVA at 10am.

LUX depends on the wattage of our MegaRay but from 11,000 to 18000LUX at 12". again the LUX of the sun at 10am is about 50,000LUX so low compared to nature but very high compared to the ZooMed MV Powersun at 2,000LUX

Our new website (up very soon I hope) will be a much more user friendly site with the professional store front. We will have many educational pages ( hope it will cut down on the questions I answer every day). we will have a much broader selection of lighting to complement the MegaRays. All bulbs including the non UVB bulbs will also have LUX readings.

For many years I have been passionate (some have said i "push" or "tout")about proper lighting. most people keep their reptiles in the same amount of light comparable to sunset, about 500LUX and 15microwatts of UVB and 80microwatts of UVA.

The light quality is an important factor to those that really want to give there keeps in the best of health and emotionally happy. we hope that we are making a small dent in that aspect.


bobmac

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Reptile UV
UV Guide UK
Reptile UV Info
UV Meters Group