Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I can hardly believe my eyes as I was reading an e-mail from the president of Solartech. He is sending me a Solarmeter 6.2 to use risk-free for 90 days. This is so cool. I knew I couldn't afford $180 for a UVB meter. And I even got a few UVB bulbs donated from some reptile suppliers. I'm so stoaked! I can hardly wait for it to arrive.

I'll keep my website updated as I begin this interesting research!

Veronica
Beautiful Dragons

>>I can hardly believe my eyes as I was reading an e-mail from the president of Solartech. He is sending me a Solarmeter 6.2 to use risk-free for 90 days. This is so cool. I knew I couldn't afford $180 for a UVB meter. And I even got a few UVB bulbs donated from some reptile suppliers. I'm so stoaked! I can hardly wait for it to arrive.
>>
>>I'll keep my website updated as I begin this interesting research!
>>
>>Veronica
>>Beautiful Dragons
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reiko
photos

at last maybe some scientific proof.
I anxiously await your posts.
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

Please post your findings. I find this very important and was actually looking into your offer, but right at this momment I have a new purchase working itself out and can not afford the 144 bucks. This study is very important and needed. It's long over due. Good Luck!!
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Mystical Dragons

People use both high intensity regular fluorescence along with a uvb providing bulb like reptisun 5.0 in double fixtures. Please check if the addition of the high intensity regular bulb cuts down on the beneficial uvb the second bulb gives off, or if it cuts the distance the uvb reaches. This I believe will be very helpful and one that I've been pondering for a while myself.
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Mystical Dragons

already recorded http://uvheat.com/measure.html

and may i ask what type of experiments and controls do you intend to use.

Mat Price

or these findings.
http://www.reptilesdownunder.com/reptile/enclosure/files/lightuvlight.pdf

i mean what is the purpose of this. the measurements are out there already from indenpentandt profesional labs.
i don;t see how one person taking readings with a handheld uvb meter is very significant unless you have some other idea that i am not understanding.

Mat Price

some of these test you are going to perform sound good as i have not found any reaserch on some of the things you are trying to test.

what controls do intend to put in pace to control variables (one being USER error from person to person)

how do intend to set up the bulbs for testing?
do you have any hypothesis on how the bulbs will perform and what the significance of there performance will mean?
i would be happy to hep you in the project but i have a full plate of bacterial/ and parasite reaserch to do plus my normal class load.

Mat Price

Hello Matt. Thanks for your interest in my project and willingness to help me out. I really appreciate it. Actually, I was not expecting the Solartech company to be so helpful and give me a meter, I was expecting to have to pay for one. So, I have a little bit of thinking and studying to do before I get underway on this project.

So far, I plan to set up a new bulb in each of my reptile enclosures, or get as many new bulbs as I can afford. The bulbs will all be different. So far I have a Reptisun 5.0 and a Capture the Sun 100 watt flood bulb. I will take readings from each of the bulbs on 7 day intervals. I think 7 days will be ok. Haven't given it much thought. So if a Reptisun 5.0 is supposed to be replaced every 6 months, I still want to know how much UVB it's giving off at 4 months, at 5 months and up until I replace it. And each week, I will measure at the same distances away from the center of the bulb.

Like said in a previous post, it would be interesting to find out if a double florescent setup (one being a Reptisun 5.0 and one being a high intensity regular florescent) alter the amount of UVB emitted from the Reptisun.

I also want to know how long it takes a bulb to lose 75% of its UVB intensity and therefore need to be replaced. I haven't found any testing done on this. All the tests I've seen are tests on brand new bulbs. But that's not the reality. We only have a brand new bulb for a day, then what happens to it? I just have a lot of questions that I want some answers to. If my research doesn't benefit anyone but myself then it was still worth doing.

Thanks again for your offer to help me. I will most likely be in touch with you and I am sure I will have questions.

Veronica

Beautiful Dragons

sure get in touch with me there are a host of varaibles that you will have to eliminate to make sure that your readings are acurate from day to day. one being light entering the tank from other sources. ect. we can brainstorm and come up with ways to make sure you can get as acurate as possable. i don't profess to have any knowlege of the properties of light or how surfaces affect UVB waves for instance something i don't know is will certian surfaces reflect the rays back up giving you flase increased readings, but i do know how to set up reaserch projects. one way around the sceniro above is to make sure each test tank has the EXACT same flooring so that in the event that uvb radation is able to be reflected again i have absolutly no clue if it can it doesn't matter becasue with the tank bottoms being all the same it should scew all results the same amount.

maybe grimdog can answer that question since he is the mechinical eng. ( i can't even spell it) give me bacteria and virus and health stuff i can shine there!

Mat Price

Mat: one thing to do is just to see if the claims they make match the results .... I NEVER take any data published by the Mfg. or distributer of ANY product as the absolute true facts.

not to say that they ARE lying.... but one has to figure that it's very easy for a company to pass up on any "messy details"
as they are trying to make a sale.

sometimes it's a little thing... sometimes not...

but it's like the old saw about "The Fox gaurding the HenHouse"

for example the first link in your posts:
http://uvheat.com/measure.html
they make / sell bulbs.
they have a vested interest in publishing "good" results.
first they say:
Philips Lighting Company, independent lighting specialists
did some tests,
1) Philips *MAKES* lights they are not what I would call an impartail 3rd party.
2) who makes the lamps sold by uvheat? (do they buy them from pilips?)

next:
by Solar Tech Laboratories Boulder, Co.,
and
David Krughoff

were they paid for this data by uvheat?
I did not see any links or listings on the page that tells us how to verify that the named persons / companies made the tests and how to find more info on them.

just saying this to point out that there is very little data there that can be verified by any means other than running your own tests.

Heck I could post the same data and make it look good... would that *PROVE* my data??

it's all hearsay unless they can certify the data and cite the soruces and give us access to full test data etc....
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This space reserved for future use...

That's a great idea that I have not thought of. I'll look into doing that test as soon as I can get a double fixture. Thanks again.

Veronica