Are the mercury vapor uvb bulbs worth the money? I seem to go through a floresent one every 4-5 months then they burn out. At 40 bucks a bulb it seems like a no brainer to me. But i dont know if the MV cost a lot to run or what. If anyone can give me some advice or feed back it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and knowledge.
Need info. on Mercury Vapor UVB bulb. Please
- Thread starter cknfrmr
- Start date
- Status
I never used any kind of UV lighting for many, many years. Then last year I started hearing all the hype about the MVB's, so I invested in two of them...the T-Rex Active/UV heat 100 watt bulbs. I noticed an increased activity with the two tubs I set the bulbs over. The turtles and tortoises started eating more and wandering the habitat more. So I was convinced that this is a good investment. Not many months later, T-Rex was pulled from the shelves and far as I know, they don't make them anymore. I have since bought a couple Zoo Med 100w Powersun MVBs and one of them quit working after only a couple months. The other is still going, but I liked the T-Rex better.
If you buy them online, you can get a better price, even including the shipping. We have a couple folks here on the forum who sell them, and even a sponsor who sells them. (Support our sponsors!!
)
If you buy them online, you can get a better price, even including the shipping. We have a couple folks here on the forum who sell them, and even a sponsor who sells them. (Support our sponsors!!
)
Well, you'll need a ceramic fixture (about $10-12 at Walmart, Home Depot). 250watt fixture with a somewhat large dome is what you're looking for. Make sure it's a ceramic socket, not plastic.
This is pretty debatable. But you also have to take into account, even though the MVBs say they last a year, most do not put out sufficient UVB after 6-10 months (almost like the tubes).
They are definitely a good choice. Right now the only bulb I know of that doesn't have very low outputs for a MVB and doesn't have problems is the PowerSun.
MegaRay has new bulbs out, but they are un-tested. All the others like Solar Glo, SunForce etc have been known to have terrible outputs after just a few weeks of use.
This is pretty debatable. But you also have to take into account, even though the MVBs say they last a year, most do not put out sufficient UVB after 6-10 months (almost like the tubes).
They are definitely a good choice. Right now the only bulb I know of that doesn't have very low outputs for a MVB and doesn't have problems is the PowerSun.
MegaRay has new bulbs out, but they are un-tested. All the others like Solar Glo, SunForce etc have been known to have terrible outputs after just a few weeks of use.
Seiryu said:
Rob, where did you hear bad reviews on the Sunforce? I had tried one and it lasted 2 months then blew. I have since gone back to Powersun, but I am curious as to the performance others have had with the sunforce, it is significantly cheaper.
jeffbens0n said:
I have heard it from a few local friends, that also tried the bulb out because it was cheaper. One is a bearded dragon breeder. He bought 4. Two blew out within a month, and the other 2 after a few months, he noticed his beardeds slowing down significantly.
The other times I heard it were on beardeddragonforum.org - So I just never bothered to even try one myself.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
