Arcadia MVB's

[KristineM]

I have a 40g breeder and my boy is 3 months. I was thinking of the 80? Does that sound good? We have it set up where we can literally raise it as high as needed.

 

[diamc]

The 80 should be good. One of my tanks is that size and it works very well, I have it on a lamp stand and a 40 watt bulb on the cool side.

 

[KristineM]

Awesome! Thanks for the advice!!

 

[diamc]

No problem. Make sure you use either an infrared temp gun or digital with long wire & probe end to ck the temps.

If you had any questions about the bulb, you could always send an email to Todd at www.lightyourreptiles.com as he is great to deal with.

 

[KristineM]

I use an infrared temp gun, always. I doubt I'll ever use anything else. In placing the order tomorrow through that website, really cannot wait!!

 

[diamc]

Great that you use a temp gun, make sure you only hold it 2" from the area you're checking to get the best readings.

Todd packs his bulbs VERY well so be prepared for it to take you a little time to get it unwrapped. He is very careful with them preventing breakage which is awesome.

 

[KristineM]

Well I can't complain about that!! I did NOT know 2 inches away from the spot I'm measuring!! How did I miss that?! Holy cow. I should probably check everything before lights out. What the heck...honestly didn't know that. THANK YOU!!

 

[diamc]

Bob from reptileuv that sells the Megarays told me about the 2" distance and I share it with as many owners as I can. What distance had you been using?

 

[KristineM]

I'm really embarrassed to say that I don't know what distance exactly I had been taking them from Always inside the viv, just certainly not 2 inches. Maybe 4-5? I've never seen that information before and I'll be sure to pass it along.

 

[KristineM]

So, spent a total of 4 hours testing this out. Going from the 2 inches and from my usual inside viv measurements with the infrared temp gun. All I can say is "wow" there was actually a difference in results that were off by enough degrees to worry me When I took them my usual 4-5 inches away I'd get the 102 degrees my boy likes. From 2 inches away, I found he's not "different" from other babies as he was enjoying basking in 105-106 degrees. In some cases it may have only been off by 2-3 degrees but in other cases I'd been getting readings anywhere from 8 - 10 degrees difference.

I wish I knew this sooner. I always thought his temps fluctuated horribly and had no idea that it was ME taking the temps from too far a distance and different angles.

I appreciate this information so much. His temps all around have been fairly steady since taking his temps correctly. I guess my lesson is the further I took the temps the higher the reading I got. Taken from the suggested 2 inches his actual temps were quite lower and I would constantly raise and lower his basking light. I feel really bad but I'm so grateful to know how to get the most accurate readings.

(Now I can stop messing with his lights, poor guy)

 

[diamc]

I'm glad it all worked out. Sorry you didn't know about the 2" reading sooner. We need to spread the word more for sure.

So, did you end up moving the lights to get the basking temp to about 105 then?

 

[KristineM]

I did! I think I've got it all figured out now. The temps still fluctuate a bit but I am assuming this is normal since the weather is so up and down outside anyway! Still seems more consistent now. Thanks again!!