Lighting my cham cage + maybe repurposing an old hobby tool?

[cham1234]

Hello,

I have been studying up on chams in preparation for getting my own. As I am unable to continue in the saltwater reef aquaria hobby I have turned my sights to this beautiful arborial lizard.

One of the most expensive and useful things in reef aquaria is proper lighting, a lot of people use metal halide or high output T5's. One of the newer things to the hobby is LED lighting and before I got out I spent serious coin on a custom LED fixture that is designed to replicate all relevant wavelengths of natural sunlight in up to 24" of water. This includes blues in the 420nm wavelength and whites in the 5k and 10k soft wavelengths as well as full spectrum of other colors. This fixture is programmable, dimmable, and works with timers.

Now, I've read a lot about cham lighting and I know they require nothing near this to thrive. I plan to go with the normal cham lighting regimen, but I am wondering if I may be able to safely repurpose the LED fixture to benefit my cham. I was thinking maybe a few hours a week of the light on a dim setting could potentially replicate at least some natural sun exposure. My other thought was that the fixture is surely enough to grow live plants. What o you guys use to keep things like a focus alive? Surely an incandescent light bulb cannot achieve that...

If this is a bad idea I think I will simply sell this light to fund my DragonStrand purchase, but I want to over all my bases and if the light could help my cham somehow I might as well keep it as I'll never get back what I paid.

Thanks.

 

[nightanole]

Best bet is to get a solartech 6.5 meter and keep it between 1 and 3 uvi at mid cage level so the cham can auto regulate. This would also make sure the brightness is correct for growing the ficus.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/uvb-10-harmful-128206/index2.html#post1121612

 

[cham1234]

Could you link me to a fixture? I tried Google but I don't think I'm seeing what you're talking about.

What wavelength of UVB light do chams require? I am going to buy the medium-tall DragonStrand Breeder Series cage, 17"x17"x36"H. What size fixture should I look for? 18"? Does it just rest on top of the screen top?

 

[APailthorp]

He means buy an instrument for measuring UVB or UVI. These are well regarded:
http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/solarmeters/

I'm using the Solarmeter 6.5, which is newer and measures UVI not just UVB. That can add some confusion (measuring UVB vs UVI), but the 1-3 recommendation is a UVI value, not UVB.

 

[Venutus1]

You can use the ho t5 light and it will work well-
but get the correct bulbs.

I recommend - if it is a 4 bulb model--

2 x 6.5K daylight
1 x Arcadia Plant Pro
1 x Arcadia 6% or 12% -- depending on how the set up is , the screen density and plant / shade density. Contact me if you need more details.

I recommend if it is a 2 bulb fixture ---

1 x Arcadia 6% or 12% -- depending on how the set up is , the screen density and plant / shade density. Contact me if you need more details.
and
1 x 6.5k daylight bulb.

PLUS--
you are right, higher k bulbs are designed to simulate sunlight thru water, with a blue shift (w. reds filtered down)
and so these are not correct to use to light Terrestrial environments with.


Good advice is to invest in solarmeter if you can afford one.
Either a 6.2 or 6.5 is good.
many are getting the 6.5's,
but a 6.2 tha gives microwatts per squ. centimeter is ok to too!

Hope this helps.
thanks
Todd

OK PS

a **basking spot** of 3.0 as read by a solarmeter 6.5 would be good.

Not whole area/ cage, just a square foot basking area - rest of area should be .5 - say... 1.0.

You still will use a small dome light with a 40 - 60w incandescent bulb to create a basing area of 85 - 87 degrees.
Since Flo. light does not PROJECT heat very far.

People always ask me if they need a dome light w/ a t5 and the answer is YES.
But... due to the fact that ho t5's do give off some more heat than usual flo. fixtures... a lower wattage incandescent bulb usually is in order.


Cheers
Todd

Hello,

I have been studying up on chams in preparation for getting my own. As I am unable to continue in the saltwater reef aquaria hobby I have turned my sights to this beautiful arborial lizard.

One of the most expensive and useful things in reef aquaria is proper lighting, a lot of people use metal halide or high output T5's. One of the newer things to the hobby is LED lighting and before I got out I spent serious coin on a custom LED fixture that is designed to replicate all relevant wavelengths of natural sunlight in up to 24" of water. This includes blues in the 420nm wavelength and whites in the 5k and 10k soft wavelengths as well as full spectrum of other colors. This fixture is programmable, dimmable, and works with timers.

Now, I've read a lot about cham lighting and I know they require nothing near this to thrive. I plan to go with the normal cham lighting regimen, but I am wondering if I may be able to safely repurpose the LED fixture to benefit my cham. I was thinking maybe a few hours a week of the light on a dim setting could potentially replicate at least some natural sun exposure. My other thought was that the fixture is surely enough to grow live plants. What o you guys use to keep things like a focus alive? Surely an incandescent light bulb cannot achieve that...

If this is a bad idea I think I will simply sell this light to fund my DragonStrand purchase, but I want to over all my bases and if the light could help my cham somehow I might as well keep it as I'll never get back what I paid.

Thanks.