Heeeyyy.....man,

I have a buddy who used a 150w metal halide and a 250 hps in his pet shop over turtle displays. I had the same question that you posed, so I got into the enclosures and hit it with the temp gun over various spots, and while those HID lights certainly warmed the joint up (pun intended), they didn't create a focused beam that allowed for efficient basking. They didn't create a hot spot in the 100F (or more) region, they just warmed the cage up into the low 90s, which was not that good.

The MH especially produced a very pleasing display light however, the HPS just looked like the turtles were basking under a street light. Luckily, he had several Buffalo Police Officers as customers, who were aware of the purpose of those lights, so he never got his door busted down in the middle of the night...LOL.

Will

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