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Thread: New Mega Ray Mercury Vapor UVB bulb

  1. #11
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    Truth be told, MOST (if not all, I don't really know, I haven't checked every brand) full spectrum bulbs contain mercury, hence if you read the label/packaging, it tells you they all need to be disposed of properly. It is a marketing ploy the reptile bulbs use "look, ours contain mercury!" - big deal, if you go searching, you'll find most do. As for which bulbs are better or not, it really depends on the strength you are looking for. Anything like the Reptisun 5 or less is in truth no better than any average aquarium or plant-gro bulb. I honestly don't know about Reptisuns 10 or better (or similar strength bulbs of other manufacture), I haven't seen an independent study using reliable equipment yet on them. However, considering how poorly the 5's stand up to other bulbs, if the 5 to 10 relationship is linear, then the 10's aren't worth their price either. Word of warning here - any company that shows their own study data is full of crap. The best UVB strength fluorescent bulbs that I've seen out there that have been independently tested are the simple Philips Blacklights. Yep, those ones the ravers and teenagers use for producing funky glowing colours at the nightclubs. I normally use them in conjunction with full spectrum bulbs in order to get more natural colouration. They do last quite a long time and have something like 5 times the vit.D3 producing capacity of most reptile bulbs.

    Sorry, Shari, but animals do NOT need heat to properly utilize UVB. They need heat (usually) to properly digest meals, but not to absorb UVB. That's akin to claiming if you took the heat out of nuclear blasts, people wouldn't suffer radiation damage from them.

    As for heat, though, I find that with enough fluorescents, the bulbs and ballasts produce enough heat of their own so that most of my enclosures need only a small wattage heat source for basking. Winds up cutting down on the power bills, which in some areas is a BIG bonus.

  2. #12
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    Let me make clear that the Mercury Vapor (and Metal Halide) lights that I'm talking about are HIDs not the fluoro's that tupinambus keeps referring to. I don't use ANY fluorescent lights and haven't in many years.

  3. #13
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    In fact, the Mercury Vapor and Metal Halides that EA7770 is talking about produces even greater UVB than any fluorescent bulb on the market, bar none.

    However, aside from some minor drawbacks such as wattage, pricing, and special fixture requirements for some bulbs, there is a possible hazard with them. I stress POSSIBLE, as investigation in this is still in preliminary. It seems that the intensity from some of these bulbs may indeed be too strong and could potentially harm many animals.

  4. #14

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    Yahoo's UVB Meter Owners Group is a nice place to visit for info on UV Bulbs.

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UVB_Meter_Owners/

    Bill

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