Independent study about the affects of Megaray UVB bulbs

ReptileUV Mega-Ray Mercury Vapour Lamps for Reptiles - Test Report UV Guide 2006

This is a group that took several UVB style bulbs from ReptileUV (leading seller of UV bulbs) and compared their strengths over different heights and wattages.

If you dont feel like reading, using 1 100w flood lamp per 1-2sq feet of space at a height of 12 inches will provide approximately 150-200uW/cm2 of UVB light, or about equal to the equatorial sun at noon. One thing of importance to note, although they are floodlamps, UV bulbs focus 90% of there strength directly below the bulb. There is a huge reduction as the width increases, past 10-12 inches is pretty worthless.

Mega-Ray SB 100 watt Self-Ballasted Flood UVB Lamp - ReptileUV

I have to bump this, sorry. Surprising more people aren't interested.

so youre saying the reptile bulbs are good? waht spectrum do they run? sorry, i dont have that much time to read the report, a summary maybe?

and what kind of flood light? just a regular incandescent? or cfl? i dont know of another type

They are good bulbs yes, but more importantly, it shows how all UVB flood lamps are going to behave in certain conditions. Most UVB bulbs are all made by the same company and smaller companies tweak them here and there to get the final product. This company Mega-Ray® & ReptileUV Products makes several different versions ranging from 60-250 watts, some self ballasted, some external ballast. I've basically been trying to figure out how many bulbs and of what type are necessary to give the 150-200uw/cm2 of UVB light I am looking for. My area is about 3' by 2'. For me, thats about 2 100watt UVB flood lamps
Mega-Ray SB 100 watt Self-Ballasted Flood UVB Lamp - ReptileUV
at 12" each. That will give me a pretty good top cover of UVB. It weakens significantly as you get away from the center point, as the above study shows, so you need to have a good spread of lights. At 12", you get good UVB at a radius of about 9", with 100% directly under the light, 50% 4 inches out, and 25% at 9" .Bigger gardens will require more. If you want to keep lights further away, go with the 160-250 watt versions. As far as external ballasts for self ballasts, external ballasts were supposed to last much longer. Interestingly enough, the self ballasted did much better in the tests, all of which showed at least 60% of the original UVB after 1 year of continuous use. The self ballasted bulbs hook up to any household socket. The site recommends a 10" ceramic reflector, like the ones found here. Terrarium Lighting: Zilla Dome Style Heat & Light Reptile Reflector at Drs. Foster and Smith

ohhh i get it. so i would only need a couple two of these per 2 foot plant to reach about 10,000L per sq ft (sun at noon). maybe im just too stoned haha. i guess ill have to read through the study. i think i smell what ur stepping in tho

Hey thanks for the post, I have been looking into UVB myself, never heard of that company before...

granitestate said:

ohhh i get it. so i would only need a couple two of these per 2 foot plant to reach about 10,000L per sq ft (sun at noon). maybe im just too stoned haha. i guess ill have to read through the study. i think i smell what ur stepping in tho

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haha, 150-200uw/cm2 refers to the concentration of UVB light. Basically, people took UV meters all over the world around the equator and took an average reading during the daytime. It averaged out to about 150-200, it gets up to as high as 400-500 in the noon day sun. You basically want to get as close to that number as you can to equal the UVB production of the sun.

forgewithinfire said:

Hey thanks for the post, I have been looking into UVB myself, never heard of that company before...

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no problem, they seem to be the way to go. And I'm not even trying to rep that company really, just figuring out what power of bulbs you need. But in the reptile community, they are number 1.

Shit man, $50 for the Zoo quality UVB bulb with over a 3 foot projection?! Thats incredible for the price... a zoomed UVB CFL costs that much and works in inches! Thanks for the post, this product actually makes UVB supplementation economical and simple :geeks out:

yo, I've been looking into these UVB lights but I'm limited to a closet and heat is always an issue. I've read the 60 watt has the external ballast, I was thinking I could move it closer maybe put two in to supplement my 600w HPS on each side but hanging down.
My thought was with the 60 I could put the ballast external to the room and limit heat and be able to move the light closer thus increasing the UVB rating closer to the 100 w without the heat issue. May be a solution for us heat challenged folks out here. Good
info, thanks!

be careful with the external ballasted 60watt bulbs. They are actually more powerful than the 100w Self ballasted. Most of the heat from a UVB bulb comes from the light itself, the ballast wont make a huge difference. But temperatures directly under the light can increase by 10-20 degrees depending on how close your light is. If you put a 60watt bulb less than 12" away, you're going to burn the top of your plants.

I just bought the Solar Glo 160w, but read that UVB on this particular model doesn't match the 125w of this model. The 160 is pretty lame and after burn in, produces next to nothing as far as uvb. Garbage. Exo-terra opted for Chinese factory produced. I'm going to trade it for something else, any recommendations?