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Thread: UVB lighting quick info

  1. #11
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    In various spectrograms I've seen, yes, there is often a little peak in the 297nm area for mercury vapour bulbs, but in the fluorescent spectrograms the intensity is pretty much a constant level throughout the range that produces vitamin D3. As I was trying to demonstrate, for the statement given to be true, that a weaker intensity from a MV bulb is better at vit.D3 production than a greater intensity from fluorescent, then a fluorescent bulb would have to have basically NO intensity whatsoever in the primary, optimal range (let's say 293-300nm) and high intensity in the outlying ranges (290nm and 305nm), which I have never seen any spectrogram present as such (that, or for some reason if there were an inverse relationship between UVB intensity and vitamin D3 production - something that has never been demonstrated in the intensity range we're talking about here). Nevertheless, the author has presented a general intensity for the general range of both bulbs, and to say one is better than the other just because of the style flies in the face of understood science.

    Personally, though, I wish the industry would get off its collective arse and start mass producing appropriate LED sources. You would be able to be much more selective over the wavelengths produced (ie. we could completely avoid all the damaging wavelengths instead of trying to construct the bulbs to filter out these), power consumption would be drastically lower (albeit there would no longer be a heat component) and most importantly to my opinion is the lifespan of the device would be far, far, far greater than either fluorescent or MV bulbs. Nothing burns my arse quite like paying $60 for a MV and getting little more than a few weeks out of it before it starts acting faulty.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Frances' uvguide.uk site had some great data on the site with recent bulbs. It has been down for quite a while, waiting to be updated with new information.

    LED does sound like it has great potential. I could work around the heat issue. Sometimes my MVBs provide too much heat and I have to shut them down in the summer afternoons.
    Laura R (FL)
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  3. #13
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    Oh, without doubt, I'm really not trying to bash uvguide.uk, it is definitely one of the better information sources available on the net. Just that as always, everything you read isn't always correct, be skeptical and use logic. This is the essence of the scientific process - something may get published, but it doesn't mean it is correct, just that the publisher and reviewers think it is worthy of being published. Unfortunately with the modern hunger for advancement, we often overlook the need to test claims.

    Yeah, I can imagine down where you live MVBs can be a little too hot during summers. In Brasil, when we were keeping animals indoors, there was little need for anything more than a low wattage incandescent bulb. The little space heaters we use up here in Canada to keep us comfortable at our desks were usually sufficient to heat a whole room during winter down in Brasil.

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