Quick question about the Megaray

[dcoolguy68]

Hello everyone, I am interested in buying a Megaray 100w bulb. And I read online to keep the bulb on for 8 hours a day. Would I get the same amount of UV for my sulcata as if I had the 10.0 reptisun on for 12-14 hours a day? Thanks for your responses.

 

[chadk]

Hello everyone, I am interested in buying a Megaray 100w bulb. And I read online to keep the bulb on for 8 hours a day. Would I get the same amount of UV for my sulcata as if I had the 10.0 reptisun on for 12-14 hours a day? Thanks for your responses.

Don't know about your specific question, but one thing to consider with any UVB is it only works if your tort spends time close enough to it. I had to do some redesigning of my tort table as the spot under the CHE seemed to be preferable to the spot by the MVB. With the mega-ray, the basking spot is pretty focused. This works great for lizards that will sit in one spot and bask for long persiods of time. But I have trouble so far getting this dialed in for torts. I'm starting to think that with my large table, I may want the MVB for the warm basking spot, and then put a tube UVB light over my cool grazing and digging area that they spend quite a bit of time in. I may then be able to figure out the tort's schedule and if he basks mostly in the morning, and browses in teh afternoon, I can use a timer and not waste the bulbs and energy when they tend to not be used anyway. We'll see. I'm always tweeking things and will find the right combo soon enough...

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Hey Chad...nice family pictures BTW...that's lotsa kids...my goodness! You in the Seattle area?
I moved 6 small tortoises out of a vivarium into a beautiful large tort table. I started having trouble right away. I couldn't get the temperature right and they all decided to stop eating.
So they all went back into the viv and the heat was stabilized and what I do is to have the UVB light on from 8 AM until 1PM, then I turn on a regular incandescent bulb. I think that's enough UVB rays...I have not researched this and haven't seen it written anywhere. It's just something I personally do and I raise healthy animals. Bob tho has a 250 watt UVB Trex bulb and he goes in and out of that all day, it hangs in one corner of his shed. That's on for 13 hours...
are you in the Seattle area or Ellensburg? We have some pretty good fishing in the PNW...

 

[tortoisenerd]

Look here for UFB output http://www.uvguide.co.uk/

My guess is that the tube light UVB is very low compared to the Mega Ray, but of course this varies on setup and where the tort is.

I personally leave my Mega Ray on for about 12 hours a day as the sole light. I have a CHE off to the side I keep on 24/7, and the tort sleeps near it.

 

[dcoolguy68]

whats a CHE?

 

[galvinkaos]

Ceramic Heat Emitter. It puts out heat without light.

Dawna

 

[dcoolguy68]

I noticed that Chad uses both Megaray and UVB, but i thought the megaray took care of that as well?

 

[galvinkaos]

It looks like he uses both to get all over UVB. The Megaray focuses heat and UVB in just one area if it is at the right height. I have a tube UVB and a CHE.

Dawna

 

[dcoolguy68]

Oh ok, when I buy the bulb it'll be in one spot, my tube and heat bulb are right next to each other so it'll be the same thing, but will 8 hours be enough like it says in the instructions?

 

[galvinkaos]

I try to have a day/night cycle with the light and UVB. 11-13 on and the rest off. I have them in the same 2 bulb fixture. The CHE only goes off when the ambient temperature is 80+ degrees. You will get lots of suggestions and recommendations, but I think 8 hours a day is plenty.

Dawna

 

[dcoolguy68]

OK thanx a lot

 

[chadk]

Maggie, I'm about an hour N and slightly east of Seattle. Yep, 6 kids and going on 7 if the next round of adoptions works our And no, we don't let our kids run around out of control

I don't yet have the tube set up with my MVB. But considering it. I'm not fully convinced they bask in it enough. But I need to observe more when I'm home all day to be sure... I have a 6foot long tort table and the little guy is only 4inches. So unless he sits right under the light, he isn't getting any uvb... A secondary UVB tube on the cool end would help. Not sure yet...

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Maggie, I'm about an hour N and slightly east of Seattle. Yep, 6 kids and going on 7 if the next round of adoptions works our And no, we don't let our kids run around out of control

I don't yet have the tube set up with my MVB. But considering it. I'm not fully convinced they bask in it enough. But I need to observe more when I'm home all day to be sure... I have a 6foot long tort table and the little guy is only 4inches. So unless he sits right under the light, he isn't getting any uvb... A secondary UVB tube on the cool end would help. Not sure yet...

Come on now...I made no inference about your kids... Holler hi at me the next time you go by on I 5... I use a tube UVB light for one habitat and then have 100 watt incandescent bulbs for basking. There's no heat from the UVB tubes...

 

[dcoolguy68]

I try to have a day/night cycle with the light and UVB. 11-13 on and the rest off. I have them in the same 2 bulb fixture. The CHE only goes off when the ambient temperature is 80+ degrees. You will get lots of suggestions and recommendations, but I think 8 hours a day is plenty.

Dawna

I'm sorry I mean to say I was going to buy a powersun, not a megaray. They're the same thing right?