Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone tried this light for UVB? How was it? Did it improve growth rates?

These lights are not strong enough to do any good. It gives off 3% uvb, which would be better then nothing, but the uvb rays dissipate at 5 inches. The long fluorescent ZooMed Repti-Sun 5.0, Iguana light by ZooMed, and the mercury vapor type bulbs are the best for uvb.

Mercury vapor bulbs like the Powersun give off the most uvb and throw it the farthest of all the lights. This bulb also gives off heat so is great to put over a basking spot for both uvb and heat.

The fluorescent type bulbs like repti-sun (long thin bulbs) give off UVB. Not as much as the mercury vapor, and not as far. To benefit from these lights the dragon has to be at most 12 inches away, the closer the stronger. These give off no heat so a basking bulb is needed. To get a dragon close to these bulbs just raise up the basking spot with rocks or a nice branch.
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Mystical Dragons

Yeah, I'm with Mattman.. we picked one of these up at the Tampa show a year or so ago... figured it'd be ok as an emergency backup, but to be honest, unless it's a half-height 10-gallon tank, and it's sitting on the screen lid, whatever's under it isn't going to be getting much UVB at all.
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Axe
The Reptile Rooms

I'm trying a couple of them right now myself.The tube style bulbs being better is based more on opinion than fact.Research has been done on them that shows they put off very little UVB after 3 months of use.The other big misconception is percentages of UVB needed.The factor most people forget is that bearded dragons in the wild spend less time in the sun than they do sitting under a lamp in a cage.We as reptile keepers tend to keep them exposed at least 8 hours a day under lamps when they actually spend more like no more than two hours a day in direct sunlight.Most UVB bulbs are sufficient as long as you are getting them a couple hours of direct sunlight several times a week.You also have to consider that most claims about percentages of UVB needed are being made by those trying to sell their bulbs.You should also know that there is still a big debate as to how much better mercury vapor bulbs are and how long they are effective.I have used mercury vapor and florescent bulbs for the last year and have seen no difference in the animals kept under either one.