UV light options- too many choices!!!

[Moozillion]

I am trying to figure out which would be the best UV light for my 3' x 4' indoor Hermann's winter enclosure. My enclosure is 18" tall, but once I add 4 inches of substrate, there will be 14 inches from tortoise-level to enclosure top.

I had NO IDEA there would be so many options!!! "Desert" or "Forest" or "High output" etc. I am looking at the Arcadia lights on Light Your Reptiles because I read good reviews on ARcadia, but am open to ANY ideas. Experience is more useful than corporate hype. Suggestions???

 

[wellington]

I like the mvb. Heat, light and UVA/UVB all in one light. Suppose to give out the best uv available. Then I use a CHE for night time heat. No light, just heat.

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BTW, I like the zoomed power sun mvb

 

[stasisdc5]

I second the mvb I like the UV and heat combo but I found that it wasn't enough to light up my enclosure. it was too dim so I added a fluorescent tube light. you can choose a uv one but I had an old one used for indoor plants that I found in the garage. it definitely made the enclosure brighter.

 

[RosieRedfoot]

I'm thinking of doing an MVB alongside a tube-light for the plants. Are plant-tube lights bad for their eyes or ok? I plan on having quite a few plants and figure it will diffuse the light some for her, but still enable the plants to thrive.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

No experience with Testudo (or whatever the new genus is), but I personally like the tube florescent bulbs (Repti-Sun 5.0 or 10.0 by Zoomed) for UV lighting, and a CHE for heat.

MVBs work well in some enclosures for small tortoises, as well.

 

[yagyujubei]

I have had arcadia for awhile now, and I like them. I see more activity under these than I did under mvb's.

 

[stasisdc5]

I'm thinking of doing an MVB alongside a tube-light for the plants. Are plant-tube lights bad for their eyes or ok? I plan on having quite a few plants and figure it will diffuse the light some for her, but still enable the plants to thrive.

nothing points to anything bad from the research that ive done.

 

[Madkins007]

Plant lights do not do anything helpful for tortoises- they are just lights that are tuned to emit more of certain colors- usually reds and blues- but we really want a balanced white for healthy eye development. Besides- food looks funny under unbalanced light.

I prefer to use a low-UVB output, low-wattage long-version fluorescent bulb for lighting and UVB, and ceramic heat emitters,e tc. for heat. This way, I can more easily regulate them separately. If you use an MVB and it is too warm, you move it up- and weaken the UVB emission, etc. Also- my way, if one thing goes bad, I just replace that part and the tort is not at risk in the meantime. If the MVB goes bad, you loose light, heat AND uvb until you replace it.

But- there are many ways to get to the goals you have! https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/Indoor-Housing

 

[RichardS]

I also use ceramic bulbs for heating and T8 tubes for lighting. My setup is a single 5.0 UVB bulb and a single Verilux for full spectrum lighting. Light looks beautiful.