36'' light fixture

[Manik6]

ok sorry if there is a thread covering this but i could not find anything on the search. im getting two cages from lll for my jacksons. both 18x18x36. i already have a 36'' 5.0 reptisun but i cant find a 36'' dual light fixture cause i also want to get a light for my plants. i couldnt find anything at home depot still need to check lowes. any links would help. thanks!

 

[Monkeykungphu]

I've always found that the Lowes near my house always has a much better lighting selection than Home Depot. This may be different in your area however...

 

[summoner12]

Home Depot sells dual 36" fixtures. Is the lamp T8 or T12?

 

[FFSTRescue]

ok sorry if there is a thread covering this but i could not find anything on the search. im getting two cages from lll for my jacksons. both 18x18x36. i already have a 36'' 5.0 reptisun but i cant find a 36'' dual light fixture cause i also want to get a light for my plants. i couldnt find anything at home depot still need to check lowes. any links would help. thanks!

I have had the same problem and it is very frustrating. Dual 36" fixtures are very hard to come by, I have yet to be able to find them. I always just use the 48" shop lights that can be set on top of the cage and have the reflectors so that it is not sitting on the bulb itself. The only 36" fixtures that I could find going around to several different places were single fixtures that had to be mounted on the ceiling of top of the cage from the inside and I had to do the wiring myself to attach a cord. What I decided to do was put three 18 inch cages in a row and place a 48" fixture on the top, and that just left 3 inches at the edge of each end cage that weren't covered by the lights, which isn't too bad. I guess that means you have to get another cage and another chameleon .

 

[Manik6]

Yes! I can get a panther. Ha! Ill keep searching I guess. I have the t8 bulb. Also I couldnt find a 5600k bulb. I hope lowes has a better selection.

 

[summoner12]

I had issues finding 6500K in anything but 18" and 48" T8 lamps. I have found 24" and 36" T12 lamps at Lowes.

 

[Manik6]

Yeah I just checked and realized the bulb is a t12, that changes everything. Are t12s ok or is that just the bulb size.

 

[summoner12]

T12 is an older 'form factor'. T12 represents the diameter of the lamp. tube lamps are measured in 1/8" increments. so a T12 lamp is 12 1/8" = 1.5" across. a T8 is 8 1/8" = 1" across.

T12 use more energy than T8. There are also T5 lamps which use even less energy than T8.

ZooMed does not make T12 product anymore. There are still stocks of the lamps around, but they aren't going to be around forever.

 

[Manik6]

Good point! Damn so im kinda stuck. Ill figure out somethin.

 

[FFSTRescue]

If you still have T-12 fixtures all over the place and you're looking for T-12 lamps, some websites still carry them and are selling them at a discount, I could only find zoo-med 36" 5.0 bulbs at http://www.petguys.com/reptile-lighting-fluorescent-bulbs.html lately and some at Amazon, but pretty soon I am going to have to switch all of the fixtures in all of the custom built cages over to T-8 ... what a pain!

 

[Dsignrguy]

I'm having trouble finding the 6500 t8 in a 24" also. I found some on-line, but they're bulk only. let me know if you find a local source.

thanks,
shawn




hijack over

 

[summoner12]

Options

I'm having trouble finding the 6500 t8 in a 24" also. I found some on-line, but they're bulk only. let me know if you find a local source.

thanks,
shawn




hijack over

You could buy the ZooMed branded 'naturesun' or whatever it's called... it comes in a green box and is a 6500K lamp. I think they had them in the usual sizes.... 18", 24", 36" and 48". These are T8 lamps.

Here is one at LLL Reptile. The guys in the store didn't know the price of it at the time. thats how new it was.

 

[summoner12]

If you still have T-12 fixtures all over the place and you're looking for T-12 lamps, some websites still carry them and are selling them at a discount, I could only find zoo-med 36" 5.0 bulbs at http://www.petguys.com/reptile-lighting-fluorescent-bulbs.html lately and some at Amazon, but pretty soon I am going to have to switch all of the fixtures in all of the custom built cages over to T-8 ... what a pain!

Just a tip on replacement... If anyone has nice fixture housings, but are meant for T12, it might be worth it to just replace the ballast. T8 ballasts are around $20-$23 at Home Depot. Buy a pack of butt connectors and just plice in the new ballast where the old one was.

I have a thread where I presented a DIY ballast change:

DIY T12 to T8 Ballast Change.

If you don't have nice fixtures and you'd like to replace them you can check out Lowes and Home Depot. Personally I think the Home Depot fixture is better but a bit more money. Lowes has a $13 48" dual T8 fixture. Great price.... but the reflector is shallow and doesn't reflect light as well. The reflector doesn't cover the sides of the lamps, so light can go outward from the sides. I have some of these. The Home Depot offers up a couple of T8 48" dual fixtures. The cheapest one is $20. The reflector on this fixture wraps around the lamps more and won't let light escape the side. This means more light will be reflected down into the cage, which means more UVB and more visual light.

With either fixture, I highly recommend you use aluminum foil to help reflect the light into the cage. UVB will not reflect well on some materials. Using foil nearly doubles the UVB output of the lamp. This means your lamp can last you longer (the level of tolerable UVB will be provided longer), meaning less replacements = less cost.

Take a look at this thread to get an idea of the benefit of aluminum foil:

Some readings.

These readings are of lamps that are a couple of months old.... but, you still get an idea of how the readings change with or without foil.

 

[Manik6]

Man I wish my local pet stores had that good of lights in stock. Yeah i have the t12 reptisun bulb from the previous owner of my chams. She had it laying around. Ill definately look for that naturesun. Thats sucks to have to change all your fixtures.

 

[summoner12]

Man I wish my local pet stores had that good of lights in stock. Yeah i have the t12 reptisun bulb from the previous owner of my chams. She had it laying around. Ill definately look for that naturesun. Thats sucks to have to change all your fixtures.

Just a side note, not saying you are thinking this....

But, the NatureSun isn't a UVB lamp. It is just a normal tube lamp that produces 6500K colored light. So it needs to be used with a ReptiSun lamp, The ReptiSun will provide UVB and the NatureSun will provide visual light. The purpose of the NatureSun is to provide a color of light that helps plants grow, but also helps brighten up the cage.

 

[Manik6]

Man summoner I never even thought about switching the ballast and I used to be an electrician. Ha! Its been too long. Thanks

 

[Manik6]

Oh yeah for sure! Got it. Man I hope my cages come in soon. Im ready to start building my drain table set up so I can order a mister.