MASSIVE BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!! suggest you all read

[Venutus1]

My Arcadia bulbs and reflectors arrived in just 3 days!

The $16 24" Arcadia Reflector fits my $8 24" Walmart fixture perfectly! http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lights-of-America-24-Under-Cabinet-Light-White/17163528 It's so pretty and shiny! I love it.

That is a nice set up!

I bet it reflects the light well... those things are so polished they are like a mirror!

Thank you for showing it off!

Sincerely, Todd

Hey,
I just want to add...
I am getting very excited about these! :lol:

These reflectors JUST CLIP ON THE BACK OF THE BULB!
They are so easy to install. Less than 2 min. flat.

"As-IS" right out of the box they will fit practically ALL of those hydroponics store T5 light fixtures and Wall mart or Home Depot / Lowes t8 fixtures.
And guess what?
They can also be easily trimmed /adjusted with some good heavy duty scissors for any custom applications you may have.

Arcadia makes them for all the popular bulb sizes.
From t5 (skinny flo. tube) fixtures and t8 (regular diameter flo. tube) fixtures 18" - 48".
They fit 4 ft. shop lights too!

I think they will be a big hit with the US and Canada bearded dragon community.
The Arcadia website tells more about them and how they REFLECT MORE UV here:

http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/fluorescent-lamp-reflectors-t5t8/

Cheers,
Todd
http://lightyourreptiles.com/fllare.html

 

[beardie parents]

Hi Todd,

Would you let me know what the cost of one of those reflectors are? I have an 18 inch reptisun 10 tube T8 I believe.

Thanks

Lori

 

[Venutus1]

Hi Todd,

Would you let me know what the cost of one of those reflectors are? I have an 18 inch reptisun 10 tube T8 I believe.

Thanks

Lori

Hi Lori,
they are 15.99 ea, + s&h and orderable on the lightyourreptiles.com web=site. http://lightyourreptiles.com/art818lare.html
(wow-they are proving more popular than I expected, btw. :shock: :lol: )
Cheers,
Todd

 

[beardie parents]

Thanks, Todd I can't buy it right now but maybe in the near future. I hope it will be beneficial in directing the reptisun 10 tube's uvb farther down. I have foil in it now but they are used to the MVB's we had before the problems cropped up and I can't afford the change to the t5 arcadia 12% setup.

 

[Venutus1]

Thanks, Todd I can't buy it right now but maybe in the near future. I hope it will be beneficial in directing the reptisun 10 tube's uvb farther down. I have foil in it now but they are used to the MVB's we had before the problems cropped up and I can't afford the change to the t5 arcadia 12% setup.

Funny you should mention Mercury Vapor Bulbs!

I am in the process of testing some Arcadia 220v bulbs now to create a 110v kit with.

Thinking out-side the box.
YEP.... thats me!

Because as we all know in the US market, MOST 110v MV bulbs are so ... errr... well... not very stable .... to say the least.

So I just woke up one day and said:

"Hey! Why not just import the 220v ones with some great European fixtures and add in a converter!"

I am testing different converters with 80 watt, 100 watt and 160 watt bulbs as we speak to choose the best set up to move forward with!

I am just SO EXCITED about this I can not HELP MYSELF but let the cat out of the bag!!!
so.... sorry if I get carried away!

Thanks!
Todd

 

[diamc]

That's awesome Todd. In fact, when we talked on the phone, I meant to ask if you were going to be importing the MVB's but I forgot.

 

[beardie parents]

That sounds wonderful! I hope the 80 watt bulb will be one of those effective as where I live it gets hot in Rosie's tank. About 3 years ago, if I remember right, we got a couple of t-rex's for her and Goldie's tank that got there tanks up to about 120. That is too hot for them, even tho some say 120 is the right temp for beardies I can't go along with that as our girls always seemed to like it at about 100. They trained Bill to keep their tanks under 100f. We then used the 60 watt eb MVP set up with a heat bulb and that worked well. That has spoiled us for the uvb tubes as it's easier to give them extra uvb when they are in the window which they love than trying to put the 18" light over them in the window. Let us know how this works.

 

[Venutus1]

That sounds wonderful! I hope the 80 watt bulb will be one of those effective as where I live it gets hot in Rosie's tank. About 3 years ago, if I remember right, we got a couple of t-rex's for her and Goldie's tank that got there tanks up to about 120. That is too hot for them, even tho some say 120 is the right temp for beardies I can't go along with that as our girls always seemed to like it at about 100. They trained Bill to keep their tanks under 100f. We then used the 60 watt eb MVP set up with a heat bulb and that worked well. That has spoiled us for the uvb tubes as it's easier to give them extra uvb when they are in the window which they love than trying to put the 18" light over them in the window. Let us know how this works.

I do have the 80's now .

 

[beardie parents]

How much do they cost?

 

[Venutus1]

How much do they cost?

oh my....
you will get me in trouble because technically I am not suppose to like advertise in these posts!
The mods may *spank* me if I do.


So for pricing, I have to direct you to my web-site or to the classified ad I will have posted here soon.

But for the sake of education and spreading the word....
Here is the low down on these Arcadia 230v Bulbs.

They are VERY reasonably priced.

BUT.... Because they are the HIGH VOLTAGE European Models, we need to use a converter (aka ballast) to run them in the US and Canada.
That does add some to the overall cost.

These "step up converters" as they are called change to 110v electric voltage coming out of our US and Canada outlets to 230/240v to match the voltage of the "juice" that comes out of outlets in England and all over Europe.
It makes the voltage more POWERFUL to run these European 230v MV Bulbs.
Pretty Cool!
Thankfully these converters are not that expensive.

I have MV kits for sale right now with the best heavy duty up converters I could find.

And I also know for a FACT these 230v Arcadia Bulbs are tough as nails :

While taking photos yesterday, I klutzed out and knocked a running 160w bulb in a dome fixture off a stand on a table onto the cement floor.
The bulb in the fixture went bouncing off the table and banging on the floor 5 feet below. :shock:
And it stayed lit and kept right on working!
The shock would have ruined many other kinds of Mercury Vapor Bulbs....
But not this Arcadia 230v 160 Model!
It stayed lit and kept on going.

I will have a classified ad for them on this forum with more details, coming soon.
But if you can't wait, please visit the http://www.Lightyourreptiles.com website. :wink:no spankings please!

Thanks!
Cheers!

Todd

 

[beardie parents]

Thanks Todd

The pics you posted showed that it came with a fixture also. I checked out your site and it does. I asked the price because I was over tired, lots going on at work and at home and I have been sick and having to work also which makes for a really long day and your brain doesn't work to well and I didn't think I could navigate a website I'm not yet to familiar with.

Lori

 

[glassjaw573]

Stalked the forum for about 6 months. Pretty much since day 1 of owning my Beardie.
This is my first post.

I just upgraded my terrarium to a 40gal. I have a metal mesh top and i am using a 150w basking bulb and a Zilla 20w daylight florescent bulb during the day.

I noticed that now (of course) with the bigger habitat, the temp in my terrarium is staying around 86-90 not 98-102 like it was.
I know most of the heat comes from the basking light, but i am also curious about the UVB.

I was reading Todd's posts (and other's) going back and forth about the US now having these T8/T5 lights, the reflectors and so on.
Then i was reading about converting the watts. I am so mixed up.

I believe i have enough space from my beardie to set the light on the mesh and be ok. do i need the T8 or T5? i read once that you shouldn't use walmart or lowe's lamps with the T5/T8 bc it was NO, not HO or something. Then i saw where someone mentioned they fit and it was great to use.

So here i am needing some assistance.

What do i need to keep my beardie healthy? Which lamp, bulb, reflector is best for the price?? links would be nice. I live in the US.
thank you!

 

[glassjaw573]

EDIT: Yes i am curious about the best basking light options as well. sorry.


*** just saw the newbie lighting post... i guess i should've looked harder. sorry ***

 

[glassjaw573]

ok so... after doing a little more research i must ask.

is this what i need? Does it just plug into any outlet here in the US?
http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22t5hofihouw2.html

or will this suffice?
http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22t5hofihouw.html

thank you!

 

[lilacdragon]

Hi, "glassjaw573"

The first link

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22t5hofihouw2.html

is to a 22-inch HO fixture fitted with a 22-inch T5 HO Arcadia 12%UVB tube.
This is an excellent choice for a 40 gallon vivarium. You place it up beside the (non-UV-emitting) basking lamp, so that the UVB is shining down along with the heat and visible light from the basking lamp. Yes, this fixture plugs straight into your outlet. It's an American fixture.

But it would be neat to buy a cheap clockwork plug-in timer and plug it into this, and plug the timer into the outlet... so you can program your UV lamp to come on after dawn and go off after sundown. I would suggest a clockwork timer, rather than a digital one, because the lamp fixture has a built-in electronic ballast, and sometimes certain electronic ballasts have issues with certain electronic timers. It's something weird to do with electrical flow through the electronic timer feeding back to the ballast, or is it the other way round? I'm not sure how it works.)

or will this suffice?
http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22t5hofihouw.html

No, that one is the same fixture BUT the T5 tube inside does NOT emit any UVB. It is just a "daylight" tube, for lots of visible light, but no UVB. That's not what you want.

You've also asked about basking light options.
If you've got a good 12%UVB Arcadia T5 tube, you don't need a basking lamp that also produces UVB. So forget about "all-in-one" heat, light and UVB bulbs, like mercury vapour bulbs.
Also, you don't need to buy a fancy "basking lamp" with a picture of a reptile on the box.
You can go into any DIY store and look for ordinary (white light) household or garden reflector lamps - flood-type reflectors. The ones I use myself are called PAR38 Reflectors, they are big and chunky and spread a wide golden-white beam. Then you can hang it over your basking zone, i.e., at one end of your tank, and raise or lower it above your mesh top until the temperature of the basking zone underneath is around 100 - 105 F. (Measure this with a digital thermometer with a little probe or even better, a "temperature gun" - AKA infrared non-contact thermometer. (These are an indispensible tool for beardie owners IMO!)

Hope this helps

Happy New Year

Frances