Zoo Med and the 6500K lamp?

[summoner12]

Looks like they caught up!

Zoo Med now offers a 'grow' light in the T8 form factor. It seems the lamps come in all the sizes the other UVB lamps come in.

I think the name is NatureSun.

I saw these at LLL today. The lamp isn't even on the LLL website yet... So even a friendly clerk at LLL wasn't sure of the price. But no bother... I think we can expect a hefty mark up because it comes in a cool Herp themed box instead of plastic wrap, like you get at Lowe's .

It says on another part of the box 'to use in conjunction with a UVB lamp' So I sure hope people read the labels and don't sell this lamp as a 'special' plant and UVB light source.... Because that is how it was offered to me when I asked about it... But we quickly cleared that up

And for all those out there that think you can get away with a magnetic ballast.... check out the label at the bottom of the photo.... it talks about using the lamp in an electronic ballast to eliminate the "flicker". That flick is bad for the lamp. It isn't just annoying to the eyes... it will kill the lamp.

 

[summoner12]

I did a little searching and not even Zoo Med has info about this lamp on their site....

For those who are going "what the he** is he talking about...".....

The 6500K flourecsent lamps are good for growing plants inside because it simulates a color temp from the sun that makes plants grow. (this is kinda in lamens terms )

See a normal household lamp is what you call "warm" it looks warm and kinda feels warm. Afterall... The light is from heat. Science has determined a scale to measure the 'color temp' of lights. This is important when you are trying to recreate light. Since we are moving away from the typical household lamp that uses a tungsten filament and into the CFL or linear fluorescent lamp world.... We as consumers have more of a say in what 'color temp' we want our room to be lit with. If you want a 'colder' 'cool' light you go with a 6500K lamp. This creates a white/blue color. If you want a warmer feel, like a normal incondescent lamp generates, you get a 2700K lamp. There are a couple of other color temps in the middle..... But... to grow plants 6500K is a good color temp to start with. Plants like chameleons don't rely on just a small band of the light made by the sun... having a more board color spectrum is best for plants. But, since they respond well to 6500K, you can't really go wrong with that color temp lamp.

 

[lucky]

this is good to know. i havent even seen these at local zoomed distributor. i'll keep my eyes open. but why pay zoomed price if lowes still has them for six bucks?

 

[nick barta]

this is good to know. i havent even seen these at local zoomed distributor. i'll keep my eyes open. but why pay zoomed price if lowes still has them for six bucks?

EXACTLY!!

Nick

 

[summoner12]

LOL I am not gonna buy a Zoo Med lamp over the GE brand at Lowes... LOL I am willing to bet the light is gonna be priced around 7-8 dollars each... but that is just a guess.

 

[SS4Luck]

i saw these a few days before i left for vacation at petsmart and thought it ws interesting. I gotta find a dual bulb hood for the little cages, i dont like how thin their trees are.

Im sure the trees in Reptar's cage will take off under a 6500 too

 

[summoner12]

Since Zoo Med replied to my UVB Meter owners group posting about this topic I figured I would just copy it here for the cham people to see...:

"Hello everyone,

Please note that Zoo Med's ReptiSun 2.0 has been rebranded as the NATURESUN. This was done in an effort to promote the lamp as an effective full color spectrum natural daylight lamp and to eliminate confusion as to whether or not the ReptiSun 2.0 provided beneficial UVB since it shared the same name prefix as our 5.0 and 10.0 lamps.

The lamp can be found on our website here: http://tinyurl. com/naturesun

In an attempt to avoid further confusion, there is a statement on the front panel of the package indicating that this lamp was formerly known as the ReptiSun 2.0. You can view the package text here: http://www.zoomed. com/Library/ /ProductDBFiles/ ES-18_printsm. pdf

Regarding the statement about electronic ballasts, these lamps will still operate in fixtures with magnetic ballasts IF the ballast is rated for T8 lamps of the appropriate wattage. Many of the older magnetically ballasted fixtures in the US are rated for T12 lamps and should not be used with T8 lamps unless the ballast is changed. Electronic ballasts do operate at a higher frequency and are able to start the lamps in colder temperatures.

And finally, to head off any future fixture/ballast confusion at the pass, we also have a new line of linear fluorescent fixtures (US only) called the ReptiSun Terrarium Hoods. They are currently available in 20" lengths (holds one 18" lamp), 30" length (holds one 24" lamp), and 36" length (holds one 36" lamp). To keep the price affordable, the 20" version uses a magnetic ballast rated for F15T8 18" lamps. The longer sizes all use electronic ballasts. They can be seen on our website here: http://tinyurl. com/reptisun- terrarium- hood

Happy new year,
Shane Bagnall
Research & Development Division
Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc."

 

[PardalisGirl]

Great........

Great............I can now see future new cham owners coming to the site with MBD issues due to thinking something with the word "nature" in it must be providing UVB. Thanks for the info though...good to know.

 

[summoner12]

Great............I can now see future new cham owners coming to the site with MBD issues due to thinking something with the word "nature" in it must be providing UVB. Thanks for the info though...good to know.

A good thing to look out for.... Now not only do ya ask about old CFLs... we need to ask 'are you using a NatureSun?'

 

[PardalisGirl]

Bump this Periodically.........

Keven...maybe you could bump this thread every few weeks or so. Or better yet copy the "bottom line" of your reporting on it and start a new thread that gets bumped periodically. Old members may not have logged in recently and new members are always showing up. I think this product has the potential to cause the same number of health issues the CFL bulbs did down the line. Just an idea....

 

[summoner12]

Bump?

Keven...maybe you could bump this thread every few weeks or so. Or better yet copy the "bottom line" of your reporting on it and start a new thread that gets bumped periodically. Old members may not have logged in recently and new members are always showing up. I think this product has the potential to cause the same number of health issues the CFL bulbs did down the line. Just an idea....

well we can't bump threads on CF............ so this isn't a bump

 

[Chameleonboy]

Yayy now our plants can grow faster...... Thanks Kevin yo da best broda.

-Clemonde

 

[fluxlizard]

I use the ge energy smart daylight 6500k cool natural light screw in compact flourescents from walmart. Sorry I don't know what you really call them- maybe cfls? I get the 26 w size which is supposed to equal the light output of a 100 watt bulb. 2 bulbs for $8 or $9. These have a lot of penetrating power compared to normal florescent tubes- you get pretty good light that goes to the bottom even in 3 or 4' tall cages. The put off a very mild amount of heat so that if basking branches are placed quite near the bulb, they work pretty well for montaine species for basking as well... My little mellers have the choice of a normal 60w bulb for basking at one end of their enclosures or one of these for basking at the other end and depending on ambient temp they tend to congregate beneath one or the other...

 

[summoner12]

I use the ge energy smart daylight 6500k cool natural light screw in compact flourescents from walmart. Sorry I don't know what you really call them- maybe cfls? I get the 26 w size which is supposed to equal the light output of a 100 watt bulb. 2 bulbs for $8 or $9. These have a lot of penetrating power compared to normal florescent tubes- you get pretty good light that goes to the bottom even in 3 or 4' tall cages. The put off a very mild amount of heat so that if basking branches are placed quite near the bulb, they work pretty well for montaine species for basking as well... My little mellers have the choice of a normal 60w bulb for basking at one end of their enclosures or one of these for basking at the other end and depending on ambient temp they tend to congregate beneath one or the other...

Yup, it's a CFL. basically any screw in fluorescent light is a CFL.

My 6500K CFLs make the plants grow right to the lamps...

 

[Vegas Chad]

That is an awesome example of phototropism... I will be getting some 65k lamps next time I do a UVB bulb swap. We usualy rotate the old bulb to the back but this time we will add in a growing light.

But what about the new LED lights?!?!? Kevin, review please! They gotta be good for something reptile related!

 

[summoner12]

There was mention of the LED lights on the UVB meter group.... But so far nothing for our application I am sure if Zoo Med or Exo Terra come out with something Dr. Baines will be testing it.

 

[Klemins]

I have 4, dual bulb 36" fluorescent tube fixtures and haven't been able to find 6500K T8 bulbs in 36 inches at my Lowes or online (they have 18" and 48", most other bulbs are 4100K-5000 I've seen). Since the strips save so much room I might just end up buying these up if the price is reasonable, since the GE strips are around 7 bucks anyway.

 

[summoner12]

I have 4, dual bulb 36" fluorescent tube fixtures and haven't been able to find 6500K T8 bulbs in 36 inches at my Lowes or online (they have 18" and 48", most other bulbs are 4100K-5000 I've seen). Since the strips save so much room I might just end up buying these up if the price is reasonable, since the GE strips are around 7 bucks anyway.

So you are using T8 36" fixtures? I haven't seen those around... I have a T12 fixture and a couple of extra UVB lamps for it... so I just purchased the T12 6500K lamps. I only use this fixture on one side of my free range as 'fill' light because the range is 6' long and I use 48" fixtures. It's kinda funny how the 36" fixture uses just as much juice as the 48".... gotta love technology

Like you, I can't find 6500K lamps in any other sizes than what you mentioned. I find them online.... but after shipping it isn't worth the cost unless you need a bunch of them The CFL's are pretty nice and bright. Do mind the heat the emit, though. The 24w in that photo.... I went through 4 lamps before getting one that wouldn't burn out after the second day of use. It wasn't getting wet or knocked around. I think it was simply over heating. I was using it in a ceramic base fixture with the aluminum hoods like you see on all the 'clip lights'. I was using a 5.5" hood, so maybe that had something to do with it? I bet a 8" hood might allow the heat to spread our more?

 

[Klemins]

Where have you found them online? I've found aquarium 6500K T8 strips but want to keep looking since the price was a bit high.

The fixtures are by Perfecto and are generally used for aquariums. They look like the standard black fluorescent fixtures sold at pet stores but fit a bulb true to size, unlike some that need a shorter bulb.

 

[summoner12]

I looked on bulbs.com. They had the 24" T8 lamps I needed. There was another site but I didn't save the link. There are a lot of lamp stores online that sell all sorts of stuff.