I have been meeting to post what I know about UV lights on this forum. I rarely see the entire picture being broadcasted, but plenty of misinformation.



In support of another poster, this particular product does not in any way provide ultraviolet light. I would assume that it only supplies vitamin D. It is certainly essential, but not the best way to provide vitamin D. The problem with artificially supplementing captive diets with vitamin D, is that it is very easy to overdose on vitamin D. When you factor in most people's tendency to think that if a little bit is good, then more is better, you can understand why artificial vitamin D is not something to play around with.



First of all, I have to say that anyone who complains about the cost of ultraviolet lighting doesn't have any business keeping a live animal. People complain about a $30 light fixture when a single visit to a veterinarian will easily run more than $100. Let's not forget that ALL animals WILL get sick, most problems with captive amphibians and reptiles are directly the result of improper husbandry, and most of these problems can only be corrected by a veterinarian. No amount of pleading on these forums for home remedies will negate the need to lay down some bills at a veterinarian. Period.



With that out of the way, I am going to get right to the point. Mercury vapor bulbs are the only way to fly nowadays. If the sun puts out about 300 µW of UVB at noon, and these fluorescent light bulbs are at best putting out 15 or 20 µW, I can't think of any good reasons to recommend a fluorescent UV bulb. Zoo med claims in all of its ads that it can support its claims with a study done on their bulbs. I requested this supporting information and to be honest with you, it was a joke by scientific standards.



Mercury vapor bulbs are the best, why? Because they can put out the 300 µW of UVB that the sun puts out. Or is only one problem, almost all of the Mercury vapor bulbs on the market today are also worthless, why? Because they are self ballasted. In short, the ballast of the Mercury vapor bulb is essential to providing the proper voltage to the bulb. If this ballast is contained within the bulb itself, the heat produced by the bulb ultimately cooks the ballast. This problem is compounded with some of the 250 W Mercury vapor bulbs, 500° at the core of the bulb fries the ballast that much quicker! This is why you hear so many bad things about the self ballasted Mercury vapor bulbs only lasting a few months.



What is the solution? ReptileUV.com and their extern only ballasted Mercury vapor bulbs. I have absolutely no affiliation with this company, I only believe strongly in their products and appreciate their customer service. I am formerly a curator of amphibians and reptiles with a collection of 200 plus and had to equip exhibits in a new $23 million building. The externally ballasted bulbs were essential to making these exhibits work, and I would not have been able to provide all of the turtles in these exhibits with the proper UVB without them. The advantage to this system is that the ballast will essentially last for a much longer time and when the bulb burns out, you do not have to replace the ballast. In the long run it will be much cheaper to use this system. Almost all of the systems I installed over a year ago are still running. I recently checked the output of the bulbs with a UVB meter, and they are still putting out at least as much as the natural sun!



You are going to look at about $75 for a ballast and bulb. This still cost less than a trip to the veterinarian.



The Mega-Ray products on this web site are the ONLY UV bulbs I recommend and should be the only ones recommended on these forums, anything else and you are just wasting your money and not providing your pets with the best possible care. I honestly can't believe why this product isn't brought up more often especially on this forum.



Here is a direct link to the products I speak of...

http://www.reptileuv.com/megarayflood.htm



And an in-depth article that should be referenced anytime someone has a question about UVB...

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/guidetolighting.htm




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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

Governor George W. Bush, Jr.



"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

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