Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK..so after hours, and I mean HOURS, of endless reading on the whole lighting situation..I have taken back my hydroponic bulb!
I learned an incredible amount about lighting and about the whole "full spectrum"..which in fact is not FULL spectrum..and combined with all the literature and first hand experience of myself and othe anole keepers on D3 and calcium, I am not comfortable with using just a "full spectrum" bulb, it clearly does not provide sufficient UVB. I know some say this works well for them, but I'm just not willing to risk it.
There is not ONE store where I live that sells 48" 5.0 bulbs..BUT we managed to nag one employee to dig around the back and WOOHOO he found ONE ReptiGlo 5.0 48"..one of the older ones that happens to be a T12 (the newer ones are T8). So this will hold me over until I put in my "minimum $100 order" from a website to get my ZooMed bulbs.
Now, my ONLY concern is this..the ExoTerra ReptiGlo 5.0 is a T8 40 Watt..which will not work with the ballast in my fixture (as I went on about in my previous post )..so I'm hoping the ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 is a T12?!
So from what I've read, and after phoning and emailing numerous suppliers, the only bulbs that do provide the sufficient UVB for these guys is these "reptile bulbs"..pie on my face (I had assumed this was a selling tactic in order to get my money.."oh this is the only bulb that will provide UVB"....well, I had to prove them all wrong, and in fact, I appear to be the one proven wrong )

>>OK..so after hours, and I mean HOURS, of endless reading on the whole lighting situation..I have taken back my hydroponic bulb!

Sounds you've been having as much "fun" as me! I tried that
UV(B) Meters Group on Yahoo.Com and ran into one obstacle
after another. First they tell you you cannot post any messages
until after you've read all of the about 10 different files they
have "put" together.
Mind you now these 10 or so files are not all combined
into a single *.ZIP file that one can download and unzip and
read. Each file is a seperate file and you have to download
each file seperately. Point.Click.Poin.Click.Point.Click...
They used 3 different programs to create and save these files
which means you need to use 3 different programs to read each
of these files. They used Microsoft Word, Adobe's reader *.PDF
files and some sort of database program that used a .XML or
some such file extension. Then I download all the "required
reading" files only when I try to load them into Microsoft's
WordPad they won't load! The *.PDF files worked okay. Three out
of 10 ain't bad. I sent the moderator a message and they told
me I could download a viewer version of Microsoft's Word word
processing program. I did. Using a dial-up connection at 56K
(of course Microsoft only gives dial-up callers a 28K connection
even if you're connected at 56K!) that took 15 minutes to
download and when I tried to install that I got a "The Program
requires a newer version of Windows - Way to go Bill! Buy the
latest or p***-off, eh?). So I've finally given up and decided
I'll have to do without participating in that Yahoo group. Maybe
someone else will start a new UV group on another board. From
what I could tell they didn't strike me as all that
knowledgeable about UV(B) with the exception of someone called
BobMac. They damn sure don't know squat about how to run a
message board or computer software, etc.. Oh well. That was
fun! Peace.

Lizard~King

>>I learned an incredible amount about lighting and about the whole "full spectrum"..which in fact is not FULL spectrum..and combined with all the literature and first hand experience of myself and othe anole keepers on D3 and calcium, I am not comfortable with using just a "full spectrum" bulb, it clearly does not provide sufficient UVB. I know some say this works well for them, but I'm just not willing to risk it.
>>There is not ONE store where I live that sells 48" 5.0 bulbs..BUT we managed to nag one employee to dig around the back and WOOHOO he found ONE ReptiGlo 5.0 48"..one of the older ones that happens to be a T12 (the newer ones are T8). So this will hold me over until I put in my "minimum $100 order" from a website to get my ZooMed bulbs.
>>Now, my ONLY concern is this..the ExoTerra ReptiGlo 5.0 is a T8 40 Watt..which will not work with the ballast in my fixture (as I went on about in my previous post )..so I'm hoping the ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 is a T12?!
>>So from what I've read, and after phoning and emailing numerous suppliers, the only bulbs that do provide the sufficient UVB for these guys is these "reptile bulbs"..pie on my face (I had assumed this was a selling tactic in order to get my money.."oh this is the only bulb that will provide UVB"....well, I had to prove them all wrong, and in fact, I appear to be the one proven wrong )

You had that much trouble with that group? I didn't have any problems..I read the files that they ask you to read before posting (they do that in order to prevent people from posting the same things over and over again), then after reading, I posted my question shortly after, with no problems. Mind you, my problem was a little hard to explain lol. But after reading through all their posts and files I found much useful information.

Do they explain anything about the difficulties of using cheap light fixtures with 24" Repti-Glo bulbs even though the wattage is correct?

Uuuummmm....I don't recall, lol. Why, are you having difficulties?

Actually, they probably can help you. The group is about UVB lighting, but there are many very knowledgable folk on there who know LOTS about all kinds of lighting and fixtures.
-----
Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
0.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

>>Do they explain anything about the difficulties of using cheap light fixtures with 24" Repti-Glo bulbs even though the wattage is correct?

Hi, RZHerpKeeper!

Well, you should definitely try to check them out if you get a chance. It was my hope before I s-canned that group for myself that I at least notified the moderator of the serious problems I experienced in trying to comply with their demand that all new users download and read all of the "required reading" files before even thinking about posting any questions in their group.
I don't think it did any good though. The moderator was some woman who sent me an email and in it she said she was too busy and didn't really have time to do anything about the problems
I experienced in trying to comply with the groups' demand that all new users download and read all of the "required reading" files. They stuck me as having some sort of elitist attitude. I wish you better luck.
They have a "database" (if you can call it that) with entries in it for various bulbs and such but the actual data for each entry is totally insignificant, and worthless. The entry for the bulb that I'm currentlyh using listed the bulb, the manufacturer and the reported UVB measurement by a single person at only one distance from the bulb. IOWs their database is a complete mess and for all intents and purposes totally useless.
Their other online database has UVB entries from around the planet, but with maybe 2-3 entries from North America and none from Europe or Asia.
What can I say. As a person with 20-25 years experience working with computers, and a college degree in Data ProcessingProgramming, I suppose that maybe my standards are a bit too high. Who knows? Try it though. Like I said, maybe it will work for you. Good luck. Peace.

Lizard~King

E-mail:LizardKing@TechWarrior.Net

It's too bad you're having such trouble with the group. I hope you're patient and don't give up on them yet - it's really an excellent group and I've learned a lot. Bobmac (Robert MacCarger) is the king, but there are lots of very knowledgable folk there including (but not limited to) Frances, Diane, Scott, Darry, and Chris. I've learned volumes from them, including the fact that UVB doesn't come cheap.

For those folk using "full spectrum" bulbs as mentioned by BlazedBetty, it's not the same as a UVB bulb. Anything made for use by humans will not produce usable UVB for your reptiles. Period. Of course not everyone looks to provide UVB to their reptiles (dietary D3, etc), but that's a different thread!
-----
Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
0.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

I agree completely..I would definitely try out that group. Seemed to be a group of very intelligent people who were more than willing to try to help me out. And their stuff is very interesting.