UVB Spectrum and the different bulbs

[tortadise]

I have been in a quandary about the usage of MVB(Mercury Vapor Bulbs) and began to research a little. My friend has a coral reef tank business and he is very knowledgable in that area as well as reptiles. It sparked my questions of what I was going to use in my greenhouse having 11' tall cielings and getting good amounts of UVB to the torts during the winter. So after spending boat loads of money on MVBs at a reptile show. It made me think of the other alternatives, and coral reef tanks. In large tanks they use MH(Metel Halide) or HPS (High Pressure Sodium) and these bulbs are much much cheaper. I realize that MH require a larger ballests. But I cant seem to wonder why this wouldnt not work. I have compared the wave length charts and both HPS and MH bulbs supercede the wave length output of a mercury vapor bulb in some margin of great lengths and some just a little higher. SO my question is. Does anybody have any experiance with using these bulbs in the tortoise world, besides zoos?

Maybe I might have to do an experiment.

Below is the chart differences in NM(nanometers) of how they measure the wave lengths of each bulbs output.

MVB-
UVC 184.45
UVC 253.7
UVA 365.4
Violet 404.7
Blue 435.8
Green 546.1
Yellow-Orange578.2

HPS-
UVC178
UVC302
UVA425
Violet506
Blue495
Green570
Yellow-Orange598

MH-
UVC350
UVC407
UVA425
Violet475
Blue498
Green570
Yellow-Orange986

Anyone know a lot about light I guess?

 

[Tortus]

I'm no expert on the UV of metal halides, but I do know that they make your electric bill go through the roof. I had a 400 watt on one of my marine aquariums a few years ago and my bill went up over $100 dollars a month.

It's now fish-only so I don't need it.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

Yeah, I don't think there's any real need to use MH on a reptile. Those lights are more powerful to simulate the sun coming through the surf for corals.

 

[Tortus]

Yeah MH are great for corals. But I don't think a reptile needs any more than a 15 watt fluorescent UVB. Loads cheaper.

 

[tortadise]

In my usage it would be in relation to having issues with high cielings and needing more powerful rays to get to the torts. The current greenhouse is good. But now its finished and im on to the next one, in the design stage. I know they are way overkill in common or household situations. But im thinking I would need need to usr this form of bulb to provide good uvb in a much larger enclosure situation I will building.

 

[wellington]

I don't know, much about the mh either, except like stated expensive to run. I also used one on a coral tank However, have you thought bout looking into solar electric? With the cost of mh and the cost of running them, solar would be a good idea for you. They have a new flexible roll out solar. I am waiting to get some info on it myself to help with my electric bill for when I have to build a tort house. Just a thought, you might want to look into.

 

[Neal]

There's some metal halide grow lamps that quite a few people had told me were the best type of lighting you could offer a reptile. I'm not sure why they said that though, they don't offer UVB (as far as I could tell). But maybe it offers a lot of benefits in terms of vision and sight for the tortoise.

The Hotilux Blue is what was recommended to me:

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/hortilux-blue.html

 

[Tortus]

Tortadise, I'm sort of confused about your high ceilings comment and the need for MH.

Can't you hang the lights lower? I keep my tort in a shallow enclosure and the lights are no more than 20 inches from it. A metal halide at that distance would fry the thing. I use the zoo med adjustable light stands.

 

[tortadise]

Neil im gonna have to check into to that.


Wellington-Love your thinking. Been going round and round with Texas Solar Power llc. We have been trying to get apporved for a government grant for panels, and a wind turbine. However my Co-Op power provider doesnt rebate solar so its pretty much out of pocket expensense and kinda expensive. I will get to that point though. Hopefully everyone does.

Tortus. I am building another greenhouse for my asian species, and these cielings will be 12-18' tall from the floor, and get a HUGE amount of rainfall in the building. The greenhouse I just built for my red/yellowfoots forks just fine the way I designed it to use MVB. So I need a stronger ray providing bulb that can be higher from the tortoises. MVB are only good at providing UVB from 2-3' above the animal, in which at those heighths will have very little effectiveness.

 

[Tortus]

Well I'm still a little confused as to why you can't hang the fixtures lower. With every pet I've had, from fish to lizard to tortoise, I've had to adjust the height of the lights to meet their needs.

Putting in a very powerful light at a long distance away just to meet their needs doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe I'm still missing something here.

 

[tortadise]

Misting system will hit the lights if they are lower. But you do have a good point. I suppose I could lower the misting system and design it differenty. My experiance with these big greenhouses is that the higher the misting system with large tropicals the more natural it simulates a jungle shower, run off of large plant and palm leaves gives more of a natural feel to the enclosure. I wish I could show you what I am trying to write out. it does seem confusing.

 

[Tortus]

I understand now. I also have a misting system that I was going to use for a terrarium, but I never got around to using it. It was like $150 and consists of a pump and hoses that go into a reservoir. I lost the instructions and now it's just wasting space.

 

[tortadise]

Well this will be an entire building. Around 4000 square feet so, thats the main quandary for more powerful bilbs.

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*bulbs not bilbs dang phone. Or dang sausage fingers lol.