Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Which kind of basking light is better to buy, 'BrightLight' or the 'Basking Spot Lamp?' The former is made by ESU, the latter, ZooMed.

The reason I'm asking is because both say their bulbs contain UVA, a necessity for turtles, but I'm not so sure about ZooMed, since I've used it before and it didn't say this. The amounts of UVA emissions for both, likewise, seem rather low.

I like the shape of the BrightLight bulb, however, since it's like a lightbulb and may give off more heat. With the Spot Lamp, you have to direct it straight, or overhead, making it difficult to situate in an aquarium.

But I wonder which light is best. I need to order one soon. I didn't see any others besides these two.

You can use a plain old ordinary household lighbulb for the basking area since you're just looking for heat. You also might want to consider a ceramic heat emitter which gives out no light and can be left on 24/7

I think those heat lamps attract the turtles to bask more. I've tried ordinary bulbs before, and they don't give off enough light nor heat. They make the aquarium look dingy too.

I'm just wondering if there are some decent one out there, since I consider this important for the turtles. They need that artificial sunlight, of sorts. Right now I'm looking into that website you'd mentioned or will look around in Korea.

I also have some water plants and this Zoo Med light really helped them grow, what with the heat and possibly the UVB rays. I just wonder if anyone of you know of some top brand sunlights to purchase though.

An ordinary bulb is fine for HEAT only... it cannot be used in place of a UVB bulb which is what you would use in lieu of sunlight. Of course nothing beats real sunlight