UVA/UVB Radiation from light?

[Aj3001]

My setup includes a 20Watt Reptil Glo strip lamp with 10.0UVB output however due to the way this is on top of the enclosure, quite a bit of light leaks out into the room.

My question is has anyone suffered from or known anyone to suffer any medical problems through frequent exposure to this kind of light. I know some UV lights can obviously be harmful to the skin and eyes but since most of my home life is spent in the same room as my chameleon I want to make sure I will suffer no health problems from this

Can anyone advise?

 

[TylerMcCoy]

as long as your not in DIRECT (meaning the light shining on you)contact with the light for long periods of time i think you should be fine because i believe the 10.0 only has a uv output of about two feet or so

 

[xanthoman]

excessive uv can cause vision problems, headaches , even eye damage, so it would be prudent to adjust your setup so as to avoid excessive light leakage into the room, ie a decent hood or at least putting some foil over the top and situating the fixture so that the top of the fixture is towards the room and the viewer rather than the bulb , the cham only benefits from the downward travelling light so it makes no difference to him

 

[TylerMcCoy]

also do yourself (and chameleon) a favor and get rid of the repti glo it is no good u need the reptisun

 

[xanthoman]

as long as your not in DIRECT (meaning the light shining on you)contact with the light for long periods of time i think you should be fine because i believe the 10.0 only has a uv output of about two feet or so

it has a reach far beyond two feet the question is how much ?,(i dont have a uvb meter so i dont know) granted two feet is probably the limit for amounts sufficient to be beneficial to the cham , but the uv continues to travel at a dissipated rate , and could cause issues , particularly for a sensitive individual , length of exposure time would be a big factor, so light leakage would be less of an issue where only viewing in direction of the cham / light for intermittent or brief periods of time ,as opposed to a situation where say a cham cage was next to a tv (or even on the same wall) which might have the viewer looking in that general direction for extended periods of time . excessive uv exposure is not perceptible to the recipient until after the damage has been done (ie you wont be able to sense over exposure to uv until symptoms appear) i have a lot of light leakage and have recently gotten headaches which is something i dont normally get ,(i am currently redoing my uv because of this) this has me wondering about my light leakage, at the levels produced by cham bulbs, i would think a headache would be the earliest and most likely symptom, but i have had uv burns in my eyes before (not from cham lighting ) and it is no fun (almost lost my eyesight because of it), in more severe cases it can burn your sclera (the membrane covering youre eye ) which cause little blisters and makes it feel like sand has been poured into your eyes, it can also burn your optic nerve causing permanent eye damage, in any case you are not aware of it until the symptoms appear, i dont think its a big issue at the levels that pertain to cham lighting , but it is an issue none the less and chammers should be aware of it and take the necccessary steps to reduce exposure, ie at least a make shift hood or some sort of partion, it might also be beneficial to elevate the back of the hood slightly so that the light is directed slightly back and slightly away from the viewer, heighth of cage would also be a factor. properly setup 5.0s have a track history of being sufficient, any thing beyond that is overkill and likely more harmful than beneficial , imo 10.0s are best resevered for desert species, anyway just my 2c worth

 

[tatted1]

I have spent lots of time reading and everything supports that the 10.0 is too much and the 5.0 is more than sufficient for supplying UV to chams.Im no expert by any means just relaying what I have commonly read.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

I'll toss-up a few Solarmeter 6.2 UVB readings here for comparison:

Bright sunny day with full exposure to direct sunlight: ~300uW/cm2

Same sunny conditions but in full shade: ~50uW/cm2

Typical Reptisun 5.0 18" linear tube at 6" & 12" distance: ~20 & 50uW/cm2

Typical Reptisun 10.0 18" linear tube at 6" & 12" distance: ~35 & 75uW/cm2

My used Reptisun 5.0 18" linear tube at 6" & 36" distance: ~3 & 20uW/cm2

My opinion is if you are not "allergic" to sunlight and its UVB contents/levels then our Reptisun tubes are unlikely to have any effect on you either .

 

[xanthoman]

just to clarify , my previous post was not meant to imply that reptile uvb lighting could cause any serious physical damage, i was more speaking in terms of overall excessive exposre to uvb in general. i am not particularly sensitive to sunlight, but i do find reptile uvb (when viewed without supplementation) a relatively obnoxious light and tiring of the eyes. i previously had a substantial wash of light coming from my setups, as i have relatively tall setups and open fixtures, and my setups are along the same wall as my tv. i was begining to wonder, since i had no reference of the levels (but now do thanks to DW) as i was starting to have headaches and eye aches, something which i rarely get but was getting quite often, and my gf was also complaining of the obnoxious nature of the lights, and eye fatigue (they were unsupplemented as well) so just as a precaution , i began a redo of my uv setup , except for my neonates, my other setups have spent a week or so with no uvb, since that time i havent had any head or eye aches and i ( and my gf) no longer have a sensation of eye fatige, , although i do admit it that the situation was more likely caused by the obnoxious nature of the light rather than the actual uv exposure, just for the record , i didnt mean to imply that that reptile levels were sufficient to cause physical damage , i seriously doubt anyone will be burning their eyes due to reptile uv, but i wouldnt discount the issue altogether. once i recover from the cost of new fixtures and bulbs my next expense will probably be a uv meter. and as always another great post by dw btw

 

[Dave Weldon]

..the obnoxious nature of the lights, and eye fatigue (they were unsupplemented as well)

...likely caused by the obnoxious nature of the light rather than the actual uv exposure...

Howdy John,

I'm with you on the possibility of the unnatural spectral content of these lights being able to generate a headache . We forget that our brains are working overtime to correct for the majority of the poor color rendering of these lights. I think that's why it is also beneficial to heavily mix-in halogen incandescent, or better yet the correct Metal Halide lighting for reptiles to fill-in the spectrum to be closer to sunlight. For now, I'm still stuck with Reptisun 5.0 linear tubes along with Philips 60W Halogen floods for my chameleons. But like I mentioned, I continue to keep an eye on Metal Halides (with and without UVB production) for my possible use someday .

 

[xanthoman]

ya know they now have full + targeted spectrum high powered led light panels that are becoming popular as grow lights ,typical size is 12'x12, they produce almost no heat or noise, i am still trying to determine if there are any that might meet reptile uvb requirements ? i have seen some in the 290-310nm range but i dont have good enough understanding of uv wave length and kelvin readings to make sense of it (it strains my brain) / edit sorry didnt mean to hijack the thread

 

[Dave Weldon]

...high powered led light panels...in the 290-310nm range...

Howdy John,

Over the past couple of years, there have been a few posts about the UVB LED light sources on the UVB Meter Owners Group site but none of them have had a "positive outcome" (yet). Poke around here: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/UVB_Meter_Owners/ for more details. Better yet, join that group and post your latest info to stir-up the conversation again .

 

[mightymart]

Howdy,

I'll toss-up a few Solarmeter 6.2 UVB readings here for comparison:

Bright sunny day with full exposure to direct sunlight: ~300uW/cm2

Same sunny conditions but in full shade: ~50uW/cm2

Typical Reptisun 5.0 18" linear tube at 6" & 12" distance: ~20 & 50uW/cm2

Typical Reptisun 10.0 18" linear tube at 6" & 12" distance: ~35 & 75uW/cm2

My used Reptisun 5.0 18" linear tube at 6" & 36" distance: ~3 & 20uW/cm2

My opinion is if you are not "allergic" to sunlight and its UVB contents/levels then our Reptisun tubes are unlikely to have any effect on you either .

Have you got readings round the right way ?
6" = ~20 & 12" = 50uW/cm2.
Im not criticizeing because I really want to know, it seems to have more at 12" than 6" ?

 

[Dave Weldon]

Have you got readings round the right way ?
6" = ~20 & 12" = 50uW/cm2.
Im not criticizeing because I really want to know, it seems to have more at 12" than 6" ?

Howdy,

Sorry for the confusing post. I debated with myself for about 10 seconds on how I wanted to order the numbers and I decided to just put the readings in bold to pair them up. Not a good choice . You are correct though that the farther away, the lower the uW levels . Or does that explain why the sun, at 90 million miles away, has the higher uW level .

 

[mightymart]

Its all food for thought ,
What with reading that most people seem to use reptisun 5, I spoke to a local reptile shop with regards to lighting & he told me go for a 10 reptisun every time for a chameleon. I was also told from another shop to use a 10 reptisun if you place the tube on top of the cage so the rays shine throught the mesh & because the mesh filters some of the rays.
Even though I am still fairly new to this I have spent hours & hours researching what will be best for my chameleon as I now need a bigger cage & now need a new tube to suit , The local reptile shop also told me that if you use a uv meter & point it at the sun even on a clouldy day the uv meter reads loads more than a reptisun 10 puts out ? Just like on your findings. I must admit I was also tempted to hire a uvb meter myself just to satisfy myself as I didnt want to take the word of one person, But seeing you also came up with the same results & the offerings of the tubes on the market today my hands are tied anyway !
What with also reading about how a uvb tube performs with/without a reflector & inside/out of a cage http://www.uvguide.co.uk/fluorescenttubemeshtests.htm.
I then came to the conclusion that useing a reptisun 10 on top of the cage (So light shines through the mesh) would produce a happy medium.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...I then came to the conclusion that useing a reptisun 10 on top of the cage (So light shines through the mesh) would produce a happy medium.

Howdy,

You are basically safe with that plan . I remember when I first got into chameleon keeping, upon discovering sunlight being ~300uW/cm2, I wanted to buy a light that produced those levels or as close to it as possible . After more research I found out that there is more to "it" than just getting similar sunlight uW levels from a UVB tube. There are actually components of UVB sometimes referred to as UVB1 and UVB2. Th ratios of these spectral portions have a lot to do with the vitamin D3 production/destruction. The ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 and probably the 10.0 too, have good ratios. Some of those ratio effects can be reviewed at: http://www.testudo.cc/Pages/Table 4.html that is part of this document: http://www.testudo.cc/Media/Herpetomania3-4_04.pdf. More info from the same group: http://www.testudo.cc/