Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The new Big Apple compact fluorescent UVB bulb finally came out, and at least it seems, as if we could kiss mercury vapor bulbs and all their related problems 'Good Bye'.

Against my expectations for a fluorescent type UVB bulb, this one is claimed to supply useful UVB levels even at distances of up to 3 feet, which is a necessity for many larger enclosures.

I don't mean to advertise here and definitely don't have any relations with Big Apple apart from being a customer, but I have been exited all day long, because I have become so desperate about the hundreds and hundreds of dollars I was spending on quickly failing mercury vapor bulbs of 3 different makers.
So for whoever is interested, this is the link with the information:

http://www.bigappleherp.com/Reptile_Supplies/Product/UVB_Mystic_Fluorescent_Light_Series_262300.html

HOPEFULLY finally a solution for many of us,

Gaby

This sounds GREAT, if someone with a UV meter buys these bulbs please give us some feeback, maybe with a few different distance readings. Really though this sounds just right for me...

-Ian

Buy me one, Ian; I'll test it for you!

I've found that another new bulb, ZooMed's ReptiSun 10.0 UVB Desert, has good output too. So far I've only used two bulbs (maybe one month) and have over 100 uW/cm2 at 10". This bulb has the same format and similar price as the new BigApple.

So possibly another option.

PAKO

Yeah, mere days after I bought a bunch of arcadia compact flourescents zoo-med released the 10.0 compact flourscent, I was kinda pissed, but oh well, in 6 months or so I will replace all the bulbs, with either zoomed 10.0 or the big apple herp bulbs!
-Ian

But, for all we know (or at least, for all I know), these bulbs are manufactured at the same plant under identical conditions and simply "branded" differently...

If anyone knows otherwise, please speak up!!

Hope these work out well - please keep us updated as you gain experience with them. I totally share your frustration with MV bulbs - have wasted more money, time and elevated blood pressure on this type bulb than on anything else I can currently think of. I've been using the Arcadia D3 compact flourescents, made in England and sold by the Bean Farm, for a few months now,
and they're performing very well so far. We'll see over time.