HID Spot lamp

yay14

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Hi i have a one year old hermann tortoise and i use a 50 w HID spot bulb . HID and MVB are pretty much the same i think.

So my question is I have been seing alot of negative thoughts about spot lamps and was wondering if it was important for me to change the bulb?
 

Yvonne G

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I'm not a light person, so let's send a shout out to @Tom

And Tom, would you please post a picture of your spot light?
 

turtlesteve

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What HID lamp is it? In my experience, no, I would not lump HID in with MVB. The HID lamps produce more UV and less heat and are generally superior in my opinion.
 

Tom

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I don't have any experience with HID bulbs. I trust Steve's opinion on the matter.
 

turtlesteve

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I use solar raptor 50 watt spot

I have a solar raptor as well. I think mine is the 70w spot. I am on the original bulb (about 7 years I think) and the UV index is currently 1.8 at 12” distance. The maximum IR gun temperature at the same distance is 90F. This is in a closed chamber at 75-80F ambient. The lens on the bulb is actually removable, if yours is the same be careful - it fell off once and the UV index without the lens was 12! One day I will heat treat the lens, and see if my UV output goes up.

Because of the modest heat output I do not think these bulbs have the desiccating effect of MVB. Still, they only work for small tortoises, because the basking area is only about 10” across.
 

yay14

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I have a solar raptor as well. I think mine is the 70w spot. I am on the original bulb (about 7 years I think) and the UV index is currently 1.8 at 12” distance. The maximum IR gun temperature at the same distance is 90F. This is in a closed chamber at 75-80F ambient. The lens on the bulb is actually removable, if yours is the same be careful - it fell off once and the UV index without the lens was 12! One day I will heat treat the lens, and see if my UV output goes up.

Because of the modest heat output I do not think these bulbs have the desiccating effect of MVB. Still, they only work for small tortoises, because the basking area is only about 10” across.
ok mine is about 22 inches above the enclosure which is 2 inches higher than recomended from what it said whare i bought it is this fine? If i had it lower the temps would be way to high
 

yay14

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I have a solar raptor as well. I think mine is the 70w spot. I am on the original bulb (about 7 years I think) and the UV index is currently 1.8 at 12” distance. The maximum IR gun temperature at the same distance is 90F. This is in a closed chamber at 75-80F ambient. The lens on the bulb is actually removable, if yours is the same be careful - it fell off once and the UV index without the lens was 12! One day I will heat treat the lens, and see if my UV output goes up.

Because of the modest heat output I do not think these bulbs have the desiccating effect of MVB. Still, they only work for small tortoises, because the basking area is only about 10” across.
Got a little paranoid becuse i have a weaker lamp than you but its suspended much higher up than youres but i cant bring it down becuse then it's to hot
 

turtlesteve

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Got a little paranoid becuse i have a weaker lamp than you but its suspended much higher up than youres but i cant bring it down becuse then it's to hot

What temperatures are you actually measuring? Are you using an IR thermometer?
 

yay14

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What temperatures are you actually measuring? Are you using an IR thermometer?
Yes but i havent measured in a while since his substrate has been damp so i could not get an acurate reading but right now i am waitng for it to become dry so i can measure the temps. But the temps i was getting were 34-36 c under basking and between 20-24 c in rest of enclosure
 
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yay14

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What temperatures are you actually measuring? Are you using an IR thermometer?
I have now lowered the lamp to 18 inches i am going to see what the temps are. Do you think my tort has gotten sick becuse of the lamp being so high?
 

Yossarian

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I have a solar raptor as well. I think mine is the 70w spot. I am on the original bulb (about 7 years I think) and the UV index is currently 1.8 at 12” distance. The maximum IR gun temperature at the same distance is 90F. This is in a closed chamber at 75-80F ambient. The lens on the bulb is actually removable, if yours is the same be careful - it fell off once and the UV index without the lens was 12! One day I will heat treat the lens, and see if my UV output goes up.

Because of the modest heat output I do not think these bulbs have the desiccating effect of MVB. Still, they only work for small tortoises, because the basking area is only about 10” across.

I cant find anywhere that says the actual chemical makeup of those Solar Raptor bulbs, do you know what they are, ie. metal halide, HPS, etc. . .?
 

yay14

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I cant find anywhere that says the actual chemical makeup of those Solar Raptor bulbs, do you know what they are, ie. metal halide, HPS, etc. . .?
No i just wanted to know if my tort was getting enough uv with a spot lamp at that height that i mentioned in the comments.
 

yay14

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I cant find anywhere that says the actual chemical makeup of those Solar Raptor bulbs, do you know what they are, ie. metal halide, HPS, etc. . .?
Sorry missread comment so ignore my answer haha
 

turtlesteve

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Yes they are metal halide. @yay14 I would monitor basking spot temps and set the distance accordingly. Something seems peculiar though, because I'm able to run mine much closer. I wonder if maybe the 50W bulb has a tighter "spot" than the 70 watt? The only other note I'll make is that I have mine angled about 45 degrees off vertical to get a slightly wider basking area, and maybe that's making a few degrees difference in temperature too.

I realized pretty early on that the "spot" bulb was not the best choice. They do make a "flood" bulb and I intend to switch when I finally get a replacement.

While I don't really think these work as well as T5 plus a separate heat source, I am fairly impressed with the longevity and UV output from the bulb. I just wish the Zoo Med ones are similarly reliable (not looking great so far, on this front).r)
 

yay14

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Yes they are metal halide. @yay14 I would monitor basking spot temps and set the distance accordingly. Something seems peculiar though, because I'm able to run mine much closer. I wonder if maybe the 50W bulb has a tighter "spot" than the 70 watt? The only other note I'll make is that I have mine angled about 45 degrees off vertical to get a slightly wider basking area, and maybe that's making a few degrees difference in temperature too.

I realized pretty early on that the "spot" bulb was not the best choice. They do make a "flood" bulb and I intend to switch when I finally get a replacement.

While I don't really think these work as well as T5 plus a separate heat source, I am fairly impressed with the longevity and UV output from the bulb. I just wish the Zoo Med ones are similarly reliable (not looking great so far, on this front).r)
Yes that could be the case but do you think my tort is getting enough UV from the height becuse recomeded height for this lamp was 20 inches and i am keeping it att 22
 

turtlesteve

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Yes that could be the case but do you think my tort is getting enough UV from the height becuse recomeded height for this lamp was 20 inches and i am keeping it att 22

You won’t know without a UV meter, and this is true for any type of light. I didn’t realize most of my MVB bulbs (6 months to over a year old) had no UV output at all until I checked them.
 

yay14

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You won’t know without a UV meter, and this is true for any type of light. I didn’t realize most of my MVB bulbs (6 months to over a year old) had no UV output at all until I checked them.
Ok but those UV meters are out of my price range but since my bulb is fairly new and only 2 inches higher than recomeded which i don't really think makes a difference i would think he was getting enough UV.
 

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