Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been using the Power Sun bulbs to provide the UVA UVB lighting for my turtles. These are guaranteed for one year. But I cant seem to get more than a few months out of them.
Does anyone else have this problem? Can the humidity levels from being around the water have an effect on the bulb?
It's getting kind of pricey to keep buying them!

I used to subscribe to the UVB Meter Owner's Group over on yahoo and I believe the humidity is a suspect. You should go over there and read the files section.

I believe the externally ballasted varieties deal with humidity better although you will then have to run an additional heat source.

However, a CHE/MVB combo sounds perfect for turtles, so not really a big deal.
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Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

They are guaranteed for a year. Make sure you keep your receipt and if and when the bulb dies too soon, take it back and get a new one for free. Providing you are using them in the proper manner, wherever you buy them should have no problem honouring the guarantee.

Hopefully it'll save you some money, i agree they can be pricey.

I've been using metal halides for 10 years with great results. I much prefer them to MV's. They last forever, provide tons of uv, and can be purchased with remote ballasts or built in depending on your needs. They're also very energy efficient. The mercury vapors are cheaper in the short term (and I use them in some of my cages). But I've always figured that since most of my herps live 10 years, I might at well invest in gear that lasts.

I do use my guarantee...however, it's a pain in the butt to be without a bulb for a few days. I buy regular spots and such by the dozen. That gets a little too costly with MV.
I may just revert back to using a basking spot, and florescent UVB bulb again.
I'm beginning to think the combo of humidity from the tanks, and the heat buildup due to their placement in my setup is shortening the life of the bulb considerably.

Ah gotcha, i misunderstood the expensive thing you were talking about, with the expense of replacing your MV bulbs too soon.

Your reasons for their shortened life are very likely as well imo.

I also was going back to MV bulb but now with my temp gun i see that the basking spot temp is actually too low for my Uro. the funny thing is that i always thought it was too hot since it seemed to let off so much heat. So now i'm also going back to spot halo's with a slider to control the intensity. All along i've always also had the UVB fluorescent to supplement for UVB.

Best of luck to ya.

>>I have been using the Power Sun bulbs to provide the UVA UVB lighting for my turtles. These are guaranteed for one year. But I cant seem to get more than a few months out of them.

ZooMed Powersun bulbs do/did have a tendency to burn out quickly. However, the problem that causes this supposedly has been addressed with a new generation of Powersun bulb. Unfortunately I don't know if there's anyway to tell which generation you're buying. I also suspect that since they're expensive bulbs [especially if you're buying them at a pet store], many stores don't turn over inventory very quickly, so you may continually be getting older generation bulbs.

>>Does anyone else have this problem? Can the humidity levels from being around the water have an effect on the bulb?

I can't say whether humidity would be an issue unless water actually would condense or come in direct contact with the bulb, which under certain circumstances can cause them to shatter. One thing that can affect an MV bulb's life is if they get jiggled or moved a lot when lit - it jostles the filament and can cause shortening of the life of the bulb. This could be particularly of issue with bulbs placed on top of a cage where the screen/bulb has to be moved every time you go into the cage.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois