Equipment Review and Discussion :: repti sun bulb question

[sean rose]

i have been wondering whats the differance between the retisun 10.0
ands the 5.0 allt he 5.0s i see coem in 48"
and the 10.0s come in 18
what would be better for my turt shes getting a 55 soon and my old bulb died so i was wondering if i get the 5.0 48 inch would it give sufficiant uvb throught the tank or would its spread trhe light out to much
i have to little to no knowledge about this stuff and help would be grately apriciated

[octpusgirl8]

As long as the light is over the basking area and there's no glass or screen in between it will be fine.

[sean rose]

hmm i was aslo thing of those mercury bulbs where it provides uvb and heat
instead the cost more but last long and do two jobs so imm have to wait and see

[octpusgirl8]

I have one of them and i'm very happy with it. I think it makes the setup look a lot neater with only one lighting fixture, but you do have to careful with them, they are pretty powerful. If you get one, be sure to measure the distance between the light and the basking area and make sure it's at least what the package says it ahould be, and to check the temp with a thermometer. They are more expensive, but overall it ends up being the same or even cheaper, since they last twice as long, and you only need to buy one bulb and one lamp.

[sean rose]

thank you umm what watt bulb do you have and what distance is at at?

[octpusgirl8]

I'm not positive, i don't have the package anymore, but i'm pretty sure it's a T-Rex 100w Active UVHeat Flood. I have it 12" away from his basking area, but for the first few days i kept it a bit farther away because i read that they have a burn-in period where they give off higher levels of UVB, and that can cause problems.

[sean rose]

k thank you i saw that at my local pet stor they wanted 45.00 i think for it is there any where online where i could find it cheaper

[Safdar]

Online its the same
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.ph ... cts_id=435

But how bout this
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=74

[SpotsMama]

I like the T Rex is better than the Powersun. For some reason it's stronger. Spot basks a lot more under the T Rex than he ever did under the Powersun. The T Rex heats the platform to a higher temperature and he likes it warm. But the Powersun is a good bulb too.

[sean rose]

i think im getting the t-rex how big is the bulb ?would it fit in the zoomed deep lamp they have?

[SpotsMama]

I don't know about the zoomed deep lamp. It might work. Apparently the inside of the fixture is shiny, which can greatly magnify the intensity of the light. For some compact fluorescent bulbs, this can be a problem as it makes the light too intense.

There's a serious, bad misprint in the general information on the reptilsupply.com site regarding this bulb. It says a safe minimum distance for the 100 watt flood is 6" - WRONG! This is too close. It should say 12". This misprint has been floating around for years - can't seem to get rid of it. Here's some info on the bulb:

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/mercvapournarr ... atnewflood

If you decide to use the deep lamp fixture with a shiny interior, because the light would be especially concentrated, you should probably keep the bulb a little further away than the minimum safe distance of 12".

[DavidY]

I think the MVB bulbs are already coated with a reflective material in the glass so the lamp's interior finish doesn't matter. It does matter if you're using a compact flourescent bulb though. Your deep lamp should work fine with the T-Rex Active UVHeat bulb. Just make sure the socket base is the porcelain or ceramic type which can handle the heat from the higher wattage bulbs.

You can get them at LLLReptile.com for $37.95. Here's the link...http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/-/t-rex-100-watt-flood-active-uv-heat-bulb/

[SpotsMama]

David, apparently the beam from the flood lights is quite wide, so a deep fixture's interior surface will have an impact on light concentration. Here's some results from a couple of years ago using a Powersun bulb:

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/mercvapourreflectortests.htm

The deep fixture (brushed aluminium interior) was concentrating the light quite a bit at the 12" minimum distance.

Like it says in the write-up, there are a bunch of variables so it's hard to say for sure whether concentration would or would not be a problem in a particular instance. Personally, I'd probably err on the side of caution.

[DavidY]

That's an interesting point. I suppose you could paint the inside of the reflector white.

[SpotsMama]

That would help. Apparently a few years ago the zoo med deep fixtures had white interiors but they've switched to aluminium. I suppose that might make sense with a zoo med Powersun bulb since it's not terribly strong and might need concentrating. But a T Rex bulb is stronger and doesn't need concentrating.