UV tube solutions

[Mysty]

Hi there.

This is Robert's viv. He's 18 months. We suspect he and previous tank mate Steve, have been without UVB for a long time due to their being no provision for UV when we got them a week ago.

We have since bought a second hand viv for Steve and all lighting works as it should, but Robert's brand new UV tube took us 2 days to get it working. We resorted to someone from the reptile shop to get it lit.

But now its been off over night and will not turn on again.

Me and my partner are stumped and frustrated. Is this a common problem? Is there a brand of UV tube that doesn't take so much fiddling about with?

Any help much appreciated.

 

[Gormagon]

The one I use starts up as soon as the timer clicks, no hesitation. Could be a bad ballast.
I use a Reptisun 10.0 T5 HO. You can also get an Arcadia 12% D3. These are the closest we can get to what they actually need for a UVB source.
Sounds like you need to get a new fixture anyway, why not get the best.

 

[Mysty]

Thanks for your recommemdations.

The one we're having issues with is barely 3 days old. Perhaps they'll let us swap.

 

[CooperDragon]

At 3 days old it should still be under warranty. It may be either a bad bulb or a broken ballast/fixture.