The bees knees of UV light

[spongebob]

Dear fellow herpers,
I've just found this site that has tested just about every type of commercial UV source available and just had to share....enjoy
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm

Bob

[SLACkra]

pitty they didn't test blacklights. i would be interested to know how much uv/uvb they give out(precentage wise). the powercompact ones acording to them seem to be crappy. also interesting to see how much a reflector helps aim the uv/uvb where you want it and that putting a mesh cage over your floro lights reduces the uv/uvb.

andrew

[NCHERPS]

SpongeBob,
Yes, it is a very good site, I have been corresponding with the owner of the sites for a few months now, and she knows her stuff.
One of the biggest things that I have established through some basic research is that the diachroic lights with protective lenses removed, they are used by a few people here in Australia, and are not only useless in most cases when trying to obtain useable amounts of UVB, but are also potentially very dangerous to both humans and more so the animals in the viv's, one becasue they produce dangerous UVC and two because the height of which a few reports have recommended the bulbs be positioned would bring the animals close to dangerously high temps, and 3 the possibility of a bulbs breaking and hot molten glass spraying everywhere, hence the reasons the covers are glued on.

Anyone using these now, should seriously consider changing from them IMO.

SLacka I tested a NEC blacklight with Hugsta, and from memory the results weren't that impressive at 12", I will try and track down the paperwork.
Reflectors do intensify the UVB in the few tests we carried out, also lowering a florescent tubes if possible will increase the lifespan of the tube before the need to throw out.

Neil

[SLACkra]

i got a reply from teh site. the person said that most are near the high uv range but most don't give off any UVB. however some older brands do. i would be interested to know if the herpshop's blacklights gave off any uvb.

andrew

[MrBredli]

See here http://www.reptilesdownunder.com/rep...tingtestsa.php for NEC T10 vs Reptile specific tubes.

[SLACkra]

ah ok nec t10 are the good type of blacklight. coolies.

Oh and Andrew, the other uv apart from uvb is "uva".............
Cheers, Alan.

[soulweaver]

This helps to shed some light on things, answer a question i have wondered about for a while now..

[expansa1]

"SLacka I tested a NEC blacklight with Hugsta, and from memory the results weren't that impressive at 12", I will try and track down the paperwork.
Neil"



The NEC T10 is much cheaper than any "Petshop" available fluoro and produces reasonable UVB if used within the recommended 20cm. Anything around and over 12" and you should be considering the Self ballasted Mercury vapour floodlamps.

Expansa1

[spongebob]

It's a pity that http://www.reptilesdownunder.com/rep...tingtestsa.php does not give details of what type of meter they used to measure the UV both A and B. I kind of recall (but then my memory is failing!) that 20 years ago everyone was using blacklights in the UK. I used to buy them in bulk from someone in our herp socity who worked for Phillips, and we then sold them at cost at meetings to members.However after a while we found out they produce the bulk of their UV at the wrong wavelengths for D3 synthesis-it was just below the correct wavelenth, on the cusp of A and B, and so they fell into disrepute in UK herpetological circles. Anyway I'm sure if these guys at the UK site thought blacklights were useful then they would have tested them