Lighting for Russian

Is the Zoo Med PowerSun UV Mercury Vapor Lamp 160 Watts good lighting for my Russian Tortoise?

Yes. It has heat and UVB all in one.. A 160 watt is a lot. Maybe get a 100 watt. It won't get as hot so you won't have to have it so high up.

Thank you!

The 160 Watt will cook the Russian. I use a 75 Watt and it is 14" away. It still heats up the area to around 95 degrees. I will be upgrading soon to 100 Watt.

I have a zoo med 75 Watt and a 100 Watt UVB light. I have heard good things about the Zoo Med Powersun. Good luck! I'm new at Russian tortoises too!

Steven Schultheis said:

The 160 Watt will cook the Russian. I use a 75 Watt and it is 14" away. It still heats up the area to around 95 degrees. I will be upgrading soon to 100 Watt.

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Steven Schultheis said:

I have a zoo med 75 Watt and a 100 Watt UVB light. I have heard good things about the Zoo Med Powersun. Good luck! I'm new at Russian tortoises too!

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I will have to position mine above the tank instead of on the screen like my 75 watt right now, and see how it goes. Thanks!

tortoisetime565 said:

Yes. It has heat and UVB all in one.. A 160 watt is a lot. Maybe get a 100 watt. It won't get as hot so you won't have to have it so high up.

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When it comes to keeping the light high, what is the preferred way to do this? Clamping onto the tank, hanging from the ceiling, or wall?

If anyone has photos of their lights hanging/not sitting on top of the tank I would love to see!

I find the clamps hard to work with unless you make something custom. I couldn't get my clamps to point in the direction I wanted. You see what I did. It also keeps in the humidity keeping the lid on. Good luck!

Here is an example: http://russiantortoise.net/tortoise_table.htm

And this is on the tortoise forums: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/forums/tortoise-enclosures.7/

160 watt is way too much I use a 75w floodlight (it gets the temps up to almost 100' underneath the light) and a tube UVB. I have my lights a foot away from the bottom of the table, hanging on a wooden pole I screwed into the table

I don't know why I kept thinking I thought someone say 160 watt. I will probably have to return it because I think hanging it will still make everything too hot.

Here's the link...it says for 160 watt powersun it is recommended 1.5' away from the bottom of area where I'm keeping my tortoise. Is this credible/safe? http://russiantortoise.org/uvb.htm

Tyanna said:

When it comes to keeping the light high, what is the preferred way to do this? Clamping onto the tank, hanging from the ceiling, or wall?

If anyone has photos of their lights hanging/not sitting on top of the tank I would love to see!

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I don't have a pic, but my Russian (when indoors) is housed in a 55 gallon aquarium (which does great with humidity) and I place a 100 watt PowerSun right on top of the screen on one side of the tank and he loves it - basks alot!