Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is anyone familiar with GE's (General Electric) Reveal (c)
incandescent/flourescent bulbs?
If you are do you think they are any good for an Anole(s)'s
tank as far as providing the normal lighting for the tank? I
bought some and they do definitely do emit a much brighter,
warmer and less yellow-looking light, but I'm wondering if
that matters much as far as using them over an Anole's tank.
I read on GE's website and another lighting website that
some bulbs such as GE's Reveal(c) bulbs use a rare element
called something like Neodycium or something like that and
that is what makes the bulbs emit a more natural-looking
light. GE's Reveal(c) bulbs aren't any more expensive than
other brandname bulbs either.
The other thing is that I emailed GE's customer service to
inquire if they made any bulbs that might be "beneficial" to
my Anole and they wrote back that they did not. I still
haven't replied to their email yet, but I do plan on asking
about their Reveal(c) bulbs.
BTW, I found GE's customer service to be quite friendly,
helpful and knowledgable as far as the technical aspects of
light and artificial lighting. Suprising that for such a
large multi-national corporation. To me anyway. Peace.

Lizard~King

The best lighting/heating combo that I have found (and am using) is to use regular incandescent bulbs over the basking areas for heat and two strip lights with a ReptiSun 5.0 in one and a GE Sunshine fluorescent in the other. The Sunshine fluorescent has a CRI of 90.

Atrax:
>>The best lighting/heating combo that I have found (and am using) is to use regular incandescent bulbs over the basking areas for heat and two strip lights with a ReptiSun 5.0 in one and a GE Sunshine fluorescent in the other. The Sunshine fluorescent has a CRI of 90.

What type (Brandname) of incandescent bulbs? What wattage? What's the size of your tank? How many Anoles are in it?
How far from the tank floor are your lights?
You don't use any lighting at night? What about a light for
heat at night? None? Thanks. Peace.

Lizard~King

Brand and wattage are irrelevent as is distance from the bottom of the tank. The wattage depends on how far the lights are from the basking spot. You adjust the wattage to get the desired 85-92 degree temperature (mine is 90-92). I don't use any heat at night since room temperature is sufficient (Anoles do very nicely with a nighttime temperature in the low to mid 60's). Anolis carolinensis is not a true semi-tropical reptile. Their range is a Temperate climate throughout all but the southern part of Florida.
It also doesn't matter what size enclosure you use or how many Anoles you have in the enclosure. If you adjust the distance of the incandescent bulbs to get the proper basking temperatures, you will have a proper temperature gradient throughout the enclosure in all but the smallest enclosures (i.e., 10 gallon).
However, as an example, I have three 75 watt incandescents (in winter) across the back of my 40 gallon and two strip lights (one with a ReptiSun 5.0 and one GE Sunshine) just above the top between the incandescents and the front of the enclosure. That gives me a temperature gradient of 75 (in the front) to 90-92 at the basking spots in the two rear corners. The enclosure is heavily planted with a couple of Pothos, three Diffenbachia compacta, a Scheffelaria, and a variegated Ficus. There are also four climbing branches and three grapevine climbing "posts". Oh yes, there are two Anoles in the enclosure.

Atrax:
>>The best lighting/heating combo that I have found (and am using) is to use regular incandescent bulbs over the basking areas for heat and two strip lights with a ReptiSun 5.0 in one and a GE Sunshine fluorescent in the other. The Sunshine fluorescent has a CRI of 90.

You are aware that this CRI (Colour Rendering Index) is entirely subjective? I mean the initial determination of a light source's CRI is based on the determination of a group of (it may be 8) individuals who collectively decide how well a given light source illuminates 8 basic colours compared to how those 8 basic colours would, again determined subjectively, be illuminated by (natural) daylight.

Lizard~King

Color Rendering Index (CRI)
General Color Rendering Index
(Term of photometry)

A method for describing the effect of a light source on the color appearance of objects, compared to a reference source of the same color temperature (CCT). It serves as a quality distinction between light sources emitting light of the same color (metamer). The highest CRI attainable is 100. Typical cool white fluorescent lamps have a CRI of 62. Lamps having rare-earth phosphors are available with a CRI of 80 and above.

If you want the complete calculation formulae. go to: www.kruschwitz.com/cri.htm

>>Color Rendering Index (CRI)
>>General Color Rendering Index
>>(Term of photometry)
>>
>>A method for describing the effect of a light source on the color appearance of objects, compared to a reference source of the same color temperature (CCT). It serves as a quality distinction between light sources emitting light of the same color (metamer). The highest CRI attainable is 100. Typical cool white fluorescent lamps have a CRI of 62. Lamps having rare-earth phosphors are available with a CRI of 80 and above.
>>
>>If you want the complete calculation formulae. go to: www.kruschwitz.com/cri.htm

They only throw that mathematical formulae on this CRI *after*
a select group of individuals has made a subjective
determination on how well a given light source illuminates
8 basic colors compared to how well daylight illuminates
those same 8 basic colors.
IOWs you (or anyone) could consider a given light source to
be one thing and I (or anyone) could say the exact opposite
and each of us could both be correct. Not very scientific at
all.
Of course that does allow bulb manufacturers to make any
and all sorts of claims about the bulbs they make. On one
website I read (I *think* it's GE's) that incandescent bulbs
have a CRI of 100! That's the highest CRI possible! Anybody
who has some ability to still see knows that some incandescent
bulbs fall far short of illuminating anywhere close to daylight
which is of course the benchmark to which all man made light
sources are held up against. Peace.

Lizard~King

>>Color Rendering Index (CRI)
>>General Color Rendering Index
>>(Term of photometry)
>>
>>If you want the complete calculation formulae. go to: www.kruschwitz.com/cri.htm

Thanks. I'll have to check out that Krushwits website to be sure
I'm getting the real lowdown on this CRI stuff. Here's a website
that pretty much says it all on this CRI as best as I can tell:

http://www.sizes.com/units/CRI.htm

Peace.

Lizard~King

I've seen that website. As you know, CRI is a number from 0-100 based on the presentation of 8 PASTEL colors on a black background. A value of 100 (not actually a percentage) is the appearance of the colors in natural, bright sunlight.
There are also two different sets of primary colors to consider. The first is the set relating to visible light -- red, green, and blue. The other is the color set relating to pigmentation (which is what we are evaluating) -- red, yellow, and blue.
The "soft white" and other such bulbs have a lower CRI quite simply because natural sunlight is not white, Most of the high CRI values are produced to lighting using rare earths and produce a yellow light similar to sunlight. BTW, "rare earth" lighting in invariably fluorescent.