Thoughts on using 10-20w LED floodlights for supplemental lighting?

[Axil]

I have a few 10w and 20w floodlight LEDs. Here is an example. I bought these years ago for my aquariums and they worked really well, i could grow aquatic plants at a distance of ~20in through a glasstop and water. The 10w puts out ~1000 lumens in the 6K range, the 20w ~2000 lumens. My plan was to put to start with a 10w on each side of the enclosure and kick them on from 10am to 2pm to simulate a bright midday period for Beebz. I might end up extending that if he seems to like it, and i like the extra light to watch him. Also allows me the possibility of adding some small potted plants to his enclosure.

Are there any safety issues I ought to be concerned about? are these lights too powerful? It looks like the Arcadia 12% T5 only throws about 400lm. But then the The Arcadia Reptile Jungle Dawn LED Bar claims 5587lm on it's 22in bar, leading me to think these less powerful lights shouldn't be bright enough to cause any problems.

Thoughts? Definitely not looking to blind poor Beebz with my experiments.

 

[Rocky2022]

@KarrieRee would be best to assist you.
I know there are safe alternatives but I am too nervous to venture out. My luck, it would give Rocky superpowers. However, as you are doing, keep health first. In no way to we want to cause any harm to Beebz.

 

[KarrieRee]

This would best be answered by cooper dragon
@CooperDragon

I have a few 10w and 20w floodlight LEDs. Here is an example. I bought these years ago for my aquariums and they worked really well, i could grow aquatic plants at a distance of ~20in through a glasstop and water. The 10w puts out ~1000 lumens in the 6K range, the 20w ~2000 lumens. My plan was to put to start with a 10w on each side of the enclosure and kick them on from 10am to 2pm to simulate a bright midday period for Beebz. I might end up extending that if he seems to like it, and i like the extra light to watch him. Also allows me the possibility of adding some small potted plants to his enclosure.

Are there any safety issues I ought to be concerned about? are these lights too powerful? It looks like the Arcadia 12% T5 only throws about 400lm. But then the The Arcadia Reptile Jungle Dawn LED Bar claims 5587lm on it's 22in bar, leading me to think these less powerful lights shouldn't be bright enough to cause any problems.

Thoughts? Definitely not looking to blind poor Beebz with my experiments.

 

[xp29]

I run extra lighting in my habitats, most are long tube florescent. I do keep an eye out for my guys gravitating toward the none uvb vs the uvb but so far i haven't seen them do that. All of their habitats have some place they can go if they want less light. All 5 move around and use all the spaces I've provided. As long as it isn't super intensive enough to hurt his eyes and he has place to escape from it if he wants it should be ok. Personally i like the well lit habitats, it looks more inviting and less like a prison.

 

[CooperDragon]

I would certainly give it a shot and observe the reaction. Having more intense light in the middle of the day makes sense. I do the same thing with my UVB tube. I don't know about the specturm coming from those particular bulbs, but I've been tempted to pick up a Jungle Dawn bar to test out in a similar way to what you're planning. Give it a shot and see how Beebz responds. Be sure to provide some shade areas as an alternative and just see how the changes affect behavior and use of space over the course of a week or two.

 

[Axil]

I would certainly give it a shot and observe the reaction. Having more intense light in the middle of the day makes sense. I do the same thing with my UVB tube. I don't know about the specturm coming from those particular bulbs, but I've been tempted to pick up a Jungle Dawn bar to test out in a similar way to what you're planning. Give it a shot and see how Beebz responds. Be sure to provide some shade areas as an alternative and just see how the changes affect behavior and use of space over the course of a week or two.

Thanks. I'll go find them and rig them up now! I'll keep shade in mind and only use one if I don't think it's dim enough in areas.

I don't know the exact spectrum, they are all marketed as 6000k-6500k

I just used the jungle dawn as a comparison for intensity, it makes me feel like I'm being pretty conservative if that thing is pumping out 5x the lumens. I'm sure it does a lot better job mimicking the sun than my cheapo bulbs.

 

[Axil]

update:

So the 10w put out way less light than i expected. I put two on the screen and had a hard time noticing much of a difference. Beebz actually did seems a bit more active today while they were on, but i think that might be because his temps were off for a couple days before i realized and fixed them yesterday.

We had a heat wave (91 in april in CT!) and i had to dial all his heating back, and while i did ramp it back up after I ended up missing the target about 5-8 degrees too low. Anyway i'm getting off topic.

So i'm going to let this run a few more days to make sure it doesn't bother him, then look for my 20w and see if that works better. I may even have a 30w around somewhere I've got tons of old fish stuff cluttering up my basement. Found a couple decent size hides I may recycle for his cool side as well.