Which is better?

[Lizardsrcule]

I was thinking I was going to use an MVB bulb as my heat and UV source when I get a beardie, but now I'm wondering if its just better to get a seperate UV light and heat light...Is it better? And if so, why?

 

[doe222]

UVB lights like the reptisun 10.0 and the arcadia 12% produce more UVB light than MVB. Certain MVB's are ok to use but its always recomended to get either the reptisun or the arcadia over any MVBS. As for heat you do not need a special heat lamp that they sell at pet stores. If you have a UVB bulb you can just use any bright white light household bulb that gives you the proper temps. Its actually cheaper to go with a UVB tube bulb than MVB. MVb bulbs are 50$+ and a reptisun bulb is about 20-25$. Than your fixture around 10-20$ at walmart. But you only need to buy that once.

 

[LLLReptile]

Actually, when you measure the UVB output, a ZooMed 100 watt Powersun bulbs emits 3x (or more) the UVB that the tube fluorescent does. I've measured many examples of both using a radiometer like this one: http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...vapor-bulbs/-/zoo-med-ultraviolet-radiometer/, and the results I've found is the mercury vapor bulbs produce significantly more than their fluorescent tube counterparts.

I personally prefer mercury vapor bulbs for any basking diurnal reptile (like beardies), and use them at home for just about anything that's out during the day. We also use them on almost all of the chameleons in our stores (chameleons are notoriously sensitive to light quality and UVB output, and they THRIVE under the MVB), and incorporate them in numerous cages so that we can cycle animals through the cages as needed.

The advantage to using a separate basking bulb and UVB bulb, IMO, is that you can control the wattage much more closely, and can plug the basking bulb into a thermostat or hemostat. Mercury vapor bulbs cannot be plugged into a thermostat because they are self ballasted, and once they are turned off they must cool down before they can be turned back on - the frequent on/off that analog thermostats use to maintain temperature would fry your bulb, and the proportional thermostats will also burn out the bulb.

Hope that helps!

-Jen

 

[Lizardsrcule]

Well..it looks like the answer here is...it's a matter of preference...

 

[doe222]

I stand corrected on the amount of UVB. There are pros and cons to the mvb. IMO seperate is better. You can put different bulbs in the heat lamp to get the desired temp w/o having to spend 50$ on a new bulb. You can offer a wider area of UVB rather than just his basking spot. Yes like you said it is personal preference. Be aware that some MVB's can cause eye problems. There are certain ones that are recomended ( i think the powersun is good but im not sure).

 

[LLLReptile]

I stand corrected on the amount of UVB. There are pros and cons to the mvb. IMO seperate is better. You can put different bulbs in the heat lamp to get the desired temp w/o having to spend 50$ on a new bulb. You can offer a wider area of UVB rather than just his basking spot. Yes like you said it is personal preference. Be aware that some MVB's can cause eye problems. There are certain ones that are recomended ( i think the powersun is good but im not sure).

When they first came out several years ago, there were some eye issues - I'd assume because they were still dialing in the process of making them. I was working for LLL and helping customers with issues when the bulbs first came out, and while there were a small handful of issues (out of hundreds of bulbs sold initially), I have not heard of someone having an animal with an eye issue due to the bulbs in several years.

I recommend the powersuns personally because I have dealt with so many of them and I am familiar with the quality - the worst issue I've dealt with in the last couple years is that occasionally they blow out when they shouldn't, which can happen with any bulb.

I researched MVBs heavily and still keep tabs on them - I personally find light (quality, wavelength, the variance in intensity etc between different parts of the world/different environments) fascinating, and study it as a side hobby to work. What I've found in my personal collection and with animals in the store (which gives me the advantage of a much larger sample size to base my assumptions on than the average keeper) is that when you provide heat and UVB in a way that is similar to that of nature; i.e. heat, light, and UVB all come from the same sole source, the animals tend to do much better. They can't choose to bask in a non-UVB emitting ray of sunshine, and the bright white light in the sky keeps them warm and emits far more UVB than our puny man-made bulbs on top of that.

Sorry, not trying to pick on you - just hoping I can share some of the knowledge I've gained over the years working with large numbers of both bulbs and animals.

-Jen

 

[doe222]

No offense taken, i actually apreciate the information. Just over a year ago i posted about using an MVB because i was a former user of the powersun, i was ripped on by multiple people to not use MVB. You are not the first to say that MVB's are fine. So i did my own research and i read much more on people using seperate heat and uvb sources so i switched it. I want to keep the 48in UVB tube i have i put to much effort into finding a single bulb fixture for a 36watt. ( the walmart ones kept blowing bulbs in 2min) What would you say to having both a MVB and uvb tube? Is there such thing as too much uvb? Sorry to start jacking this post but hopefully they find it helpfull as well.

 

[LLLReptile]

No offense taken, i actually apreciate the information. Just over a year ago i posted about using an MVB because i was a former user of the powersun, i was ripped on by multiple people to not use MVB. You are not the first to say that MVB's are fine. So i did my own research and i read much more on people using seperate heat and uvb sources so i switched it. I want to keep the 48in UVB tube i have i put to much effort into finding a single bulb fixture for a 36watt. ( the walmart ones kept blowing bulbs in 2min) What would you say to having both a MVB and uvb tube? Is there such thing as too much uvb? Sorry to start jacking this post but hopefully they find it helpfull as well.

I would not use both an MVB and a UVB tube - if you're going to keep using a tube with the MVB, then use a regular household light that doesn't emit UV to brighten the cage. The few times I did encounter eye issues were generally when there were tube fluorescents used in combination with MVBs, which again was several years ago...but I personally don't want to risk it and generally advise against it still.

-Jen

 

[doe222]

I already have that setup. I was just curious about using both. Figured it would be a bit of overkill.

 

[herpgirl2510]

How far should the 100 and 150 mercury bulb be from the basking spot? I am thinking of changing over from the reptisun.

 

[kelii]

I use a 160 watt Powersun MVB on my 40 gallon. At first I was worried I had made the wrong choice, but it works great. It keeps my tank's basking spot at 108 degrees and I love only having one fixture.