Position of UTH

[appps]

Mine hangs inside the tank, and has for years.

[Andy]

I have my ceramic socket and have a design I think will work inside my tank hood and tank. Ceramic heater is on the way. Thank you to everyone for your advice and opinions.

Am looking at UV lighting now, will again search these forums.

[appps]

There was a post years ago and not sure if it was here or not about it being dangerous to use stronger than 2.0 uv bulb. So worth doing some googling to see if that still applies.

Have fun :-)

[Andy]

Yep. Am going through posts now..... 13 pages worth! : )

I saw that someone had mentioned that UV bulbs can be dangerous. What does 2.0 mean though?

I've looked at the Exo-Terra and Zoo-Med bulbs. Exo-Terra have renamed their bulbs from Repti-Glo to just plain Reptile UVB. The weakest one is a Reptile UVB100 and it is effective up to 40cm. It is designed for tropical and sub-tropical reptiles (as opposed to desert).

I've read that UV lighting is healthy for all living things, but then other posts saying lighting is unnecessary.

[appps]

It's the strength of the uv rays. If I remember correctly there were animals being I guess sunburnt by the higher uv. Can't remember if it was a fault got fixed with one brand or what the details were. I've always used it as the safe cut off point though so both of mine are uv 2.0. I'm sure it was a warning that was acknowledged by the manufacturer or something like that. Could have even been a reptile forum as was years ago.

As for being unnecessary, yes I've read that too but my theory is if a plant can't grow there due to lack of uv, and people can't live without adequate uv then it sure ain't going to hurt and just might help :-)

[appps]

I keep the bulb box for when they blow, just had a look.

Originally I had the exo terra reptile glo 2.0 compact.

This one has a little note on it that it has replaced that bulb, it's just called 13w natural light.

[Andy]

Thanks Annette, that is a very helpful photo because I can see the part number in the lower right-hand corner. I've found it on the Exo-Terra website. That particular light reproduces daylight but without UVB radiation. From my understanding, it is UVB radiation which is required for the production of vitamin D. Whether or not that is required by hermit crabs I do not know.

Do you have multiple lights in your tank? Do they hang inside the tank or above the glass lid? Do you use a clamp lamp or dome for the light, or just a hanging socket?

[appps]

That's interesting as I bought the original one as it did have UVB. Assumed when they said this one replaced it so would it so surprised to hear it hasn't.

Edited to add just found the original in this photo. Definatly says UVB so bit peeved their natural,light pack implies it's the same but it's not. At least I've only replaced one so far so still have one of the UVB bulbs till it blows. (Even says UVB on the bulb)


I'll take a photo of my light setup in the morning but they sit under the hood but above the glass lid. I've got two so I can have a more graduated day to night and vice versa.

[appps]

This is how I have my two lights. Excuse the wood rot, was from the days it was a fish tank.

[Andy]

Thanks Annette again for the photos. It's really helpful seeing how other carers have their habitats set up.

I've done some research today on UVB. From my understanding, a fluorescent globe that is producing UVB radiation is only effective for around a year. After that time, it may still produce light but won't produce any UV radiation. Below is a excerpt from Exo-Terra's infosheet for their Reptile UVB100 bulb.

"Light and UV radiation in compact fluorescent bulbs decreases over time. Changing your terrarium bulbs yearly ensures optimal light conditions to keep your reptiles healthy."

Essentially the bulb would need to be replaced annually in order to keep providing optimal levels of UV radiation.

Also, with respect to glass, it is transparent to UVA radiation but effectively blocks UVB radiation. It has to do with the wavelength of the radiation, as UVA and UVB are at different wavelengths. Here are some links that I came across in my research:

http://www.drbaileyskincare.com/blog/do ... h-windows/

http://www.skincancer.org/prevention/uv ... nd-indoors

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-c ... kin-cancer

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19614895

There is an enamelled type of glass that allows the UV radiation to pass through (otherwise how would the bulb work right?), not sure whether this is available to the consumer though. Need to do some more research on that one. Alternatively the bulb would need to sit inside the tank, but that might not be safe due to the high humidity required inside the tank.