6500k bulbs rock my face.

[renzo0684]

Well I got hosed today, both by rain and the PS in the next town over

I called them, asked if they had the ReptiSun 5.0 in a 24 inch bulb, the girl said "yes, one left", so I asked her to look at the bulb itself and tell me the watts and the size. She said " 24 inch, T8, 20 watts", I said hold it like your life depends on it I'll be right over. Then off I went happy as a clam

I get to the store and sitting on the counter with my name on it is a 24", 5.0, "ReptA*Sun" bulb :facepalm: then

Not wanting the 30miles to be a complete waste I bought the bulb thinking it can be a backup later down the road & it was only $11...

Now off to Wally-Mart across the street, no dual fixtures, nor a single for a 20watt, 24" T8. Lowes here I come!! I get to Lowes and same as WM, they had nothing that would fit the bulb... I asked a Lowes Lighting Specialist can I put the 20watt bulbs in a 17watt max fixture, and he said nope the bulb will be under powered, prolly burn out quick & not give the output the cham needs.. Fair enough, he wears a name tag, I don't.

So now I'm home and nothing to show for it except a new pile of plants that will get all wilty in the cage, yippy, lol... I'm going to call LLL when they open, maybe they can shed some light on this. (pun intended)

Thats weird that walmart didnt have anything... If you can use it i have a direct wire fixture that will work.... I got it and did not know it was a direct wire and I dont know what to do with it so its just in my room collecting dust... If you can use is PM me and we can see about getting it to you...

 

[scarface2jz]

I have a spare fixture, I might have to try this 6500K bulb

 

[buick455]

Thank you both so much for the offer (truly awsome), but I actually went back to another PS and grabbed a compact uvb and ordered the repti-sun 5.0 24" T8

Interesting phone call I made to ZooMed today though, that I think I should share.

I called and they connected me to someone that I think is the lighting products support. When I explained my problem she was suprised that I couldnt find a fixture for their 24" 5.0 T8 bulb. Then we figured out the problem.
1. ZooMeds website specs for the 24" is wrong.. it states that the bulb is 20w when it is actually 17w (yippy it will work with the $20 dual fixture at HD). I verified this with LLL
2. She also said that if I end up getting a 20w and I dont live in the UK that there is a problem (I dont know why, I guess the 20w were just for them).
3. The packages are still showing 18w or 20w and the bulbs inside are actually 17w.

So I have my bulb ordered, now for the waiting till it gets here to start screwin around again on the bad side I have a Flukers Repta*Sun 5.0, T8, 20w, 24" bulb that is all but useless for now... I am going to keep my eyes open for a fixture for it, should find something one day, lol.

Also, big box pet stores are goofy.. take my local petsmart (1200 stores strong) for example.. They sell ZooMed 18", 17w Hoods (without bulb) but they do not stock any 17w, 18" bulbs just ExoTerra 20w, 18" bulbs. From what the girl at ZooMed said putting the 20w in the 17w fixture is a no no. So what are all these poor animals being bought from that store going home with

I wish I built the indoor cage 4' wide x 4' tall now, lol.. oh well, maybe the next one

 

[summoner12]

Thank you both so much for the offer (truly awsome), but I actually went back to another PS and grabbed a compact uvb and ordered the repti-sun 5.0 24" T8

Interesting phone call I made to ZooMed today though, that I think I should share.

I called and they connected me to someone that I think is the lighting products support. When I explained my problem she was suprised that I couldnt find a fixture for their 24" 5.0 T8 bulb. Then we figured out the problem.
1. ZooMeds website specs for the 24" is wrong.. it states that the bulb is 20w when it is actually 17w (yippy it will work with the $20 dual fixture at HD). I verified this with LLL
2. She also said that if I end up getting a 20w and I dont live in the UK that there is a problem (I dont know why, I guess the 20w were just for them).
3. The packages are still showing 18w or 20w and the bulbs inside are actually 17w.

So I have my bulb ordered, now for the waiting till it gets here to start screwin around again on the bad side I have a Flukers Repta*Sun 5.0, T8, 20w, 24" bulb that is all but useless for now... I am going to keep my eyes open for a fixture for it, should find something one day, lol.

Also, big box pet stores are goofy.. take my local petsmart (1200 stores strong) for example.. They sell ZooMed 18", 17w Hoods (without bulb) but they do not stock any 17w, 18" bulbs just ExoTerra 20w, 18" bulbs. From what the girl at ZooMed said putting the 20w in the 17w fixture is a no no. So what are all these poor animals being bought from that store going home with

I wish I built the indoor cage 4' wide x 4' tall now, lol.. oh well, maybe the next one

Were you talking to Ashley at Zoo Med?

As I showed above... they have a packaging misprint and it seems they have a distribution problem... I have run across several of the 36w 48" lamps when they should be 32w.....

Just keep an eye on the stuff guys.

 

[buick455]

Were you talking to Ashley at Zoo Med?

honestly I can't remember, lol.. thats awful, I spoke to so many ppl today I cant remember whos who

 

[tiga]

After I read this post I decided to try the 6500k lights in the hope to help my plants. So I grabbed 2 sylvania 20w 6500k daylight bulbs T12 and the appropriate ballast and fixture. I've had them for about 3 weeks and within the first couple days I noticed my schefflera leaves turning brown and sagging so I went back and grabbed a couple Phillips plant and aquarium lights which I believe are around the 2300-2500 range( I'm not at home to check), and tried one of eAch for another week and same result. The tree seems to be doing worse! This week I am on my last resort here and am trying 2 of the plant grows but so far no good results. Anyon able to shed some light as to why the tree is doing worse? I need to figure out a solution here because my chams are in our basement and the small and few windows provide little nayural light. The tree is also nearly 6' and cost a decent junk a change. I know I can move it by window but would like to figure out a more permanent solution.

It's odd cause I've had the plant for almost ayear, and although i could never say it was doing great, the top of it near the rwptisun linear 10.0 I have was growing new branches and leaves. It's only since adding the new lights has it took a nosedive.

 

[lucky]

maybe try changing out the soil in the plant. could just be nutrient defficient and starting to wither from it. i'd give it a shot. just remember to use organic potting soil.

 

[HairyScaryMark]

Can someone provide a link to a website showing the type of bulb used so I can get a better idea what is being talked about?

The UVb Tube I currently use claims to to be 6,500K

http://www.arcadia-uk.info/product.php?pid=20&mid=12&lan=en&sub=&id=4

The same company also do a 'Natural Sunlight' tube which is 5,600K

http://www.arcadia-uk.info/product.php?pid=18&mid=12&lan=en&sub=&id=4

I previously thought about getting the Natural Sunlight tube and placing it at the near side of the cage so the light was directed towards the chameleon, making him easier to see and take photos of.

I was also recommended the Repti-Glo 2.0 Compact as a plant light by a local shop. They claimed plants seem to flourish when using it. I know compact UV is a bit controversial here but is a 2.0 really potentially dangerous? Also, I don't believe the warning effects all brands of compact UV lighting.


My Ficus trees are doing well although the big one is constantly losing losing significant quantities of leaves (particularly towards the bottom of the tree) and my Hibiscus plants aren't doing terribly well. There isn't a huge number of leaves on any of them but the ones in the chameleon cage are doing significantly better. NO idea if I am over or under watering but I think the Hibiscus need more water than the Ficus.

 

[summoner12]

brown leaves sounds like it isn't watered enough... did you change the soil the plant came in when you put it into the cage? If not I would try that.

This is a replanted scheflera that is growing to the 6500K CFL I have above this cage. the tips of the leaves are brown because of the heat from the CFL..... but you'll notice how the plant was growing up the side of the cage and then turned for the lamp and has several branches under the lamp now.

This is a graph of color correction temp. You see.... lamp's color output is measured in kalvin. The scale is how hot a black body becomes to make each color. so a normal household lamp gets to 2800*K and the color spectrum from that lamp has a lot of red. a fluorescent tube makes like through a process and not changing the temperature of a black body. So.... just like our UVB lamps, different phosphors in the lamp will generate different color tempiture outputs. so if you look on a fluorescent tube package and see the CCT rating, it is telling you the 'color correction temperature', indicating the spectrum of light it generates based on the lamps phosphors.

If what I wrote isn't clicking with you... check out the Wiki to get a lot more reading

 

[buick455]

just an update on my dual fixture project:

well I ordered the repti-sun 24" (it came but it was the 20w, so it was replaced with a 17w one) went to Lowes and picked up the "Utilitech 2', 2 light T8" (#0080803) and a "Sylvania 17x 24" cool white 4100k" (I know it isnt the right bulb). the 4100k was the only bulb they had that would fit the 24" T8. Im going to try getting the 6500k online someplace. wired it all up and its great for now..