LED Grow lights

HardlyQuinn

New Member
Hi there, I am a relatively new cham-mommy. I currently have my second cham baby. He's about 4 months old. (pictures to come)

I'm going through plants, rotating them out frequently, but I am concerned that frequent outdoor exposure of the plants can increase risk for bugs with parasites to get into the soil and possibly hurt my baby boy. I was wondering if the LED grow lights would be safe for the enclosure, meaning will it harm him at all?

Currently I have a medium open-air enclosure with the heat and UV lighting that has been recommended by all.. basking areas are 95 degrees with as low as 70-75 degrees in the lower tank. Plenty of hiding opportunity, misting plenty... generally he's a happy guy.

Here's the light that I am talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/Grow-The-Buddy-Greenhouse-Hydroponic/dp/B010I72HT6

Thank you so much, in advance!
 
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That bulb is 12 watt, at best its the same as a 20 watt florescent.
It may work, but i know to keep light light plants like hibiscus alive, you need min 15 watts per square foot of cage. In order too keep my hibiscus alive and happy i need 2 54 watt t5ho's in the 24w/48d cage. 2 20 watt florescent didnt cut it.
 
I was more concerned with it causing damage to Yoda. I don't want to give him a "sunburn"


That is almost impossible. Even with a 12% HO, its completely useless 3ft away. As long as Yoda has full shade and full sun areas, and Hot/Cold areas, he will regulate his exposure himself.

Now if Yoda had a 12%, just sticks in the cage, and the cage was only 2ft tall, yea Yoda would have a bad time.
 
LEDs emit very small amounts of heat. You can get them at any hardware store. Shoot for the bulbs that are in the 4000-6500k range. The closer to 6500k the better!
 
just because they are "LED"... that means nothing as far as the spectral quality of light is concerned.
Many people think that is good just because it is the newest 'fad".

http://www.amazon.com/Grow-The-Buddy-Greenhouse-Hydroponic/dp/B010I72HT6

But nope, not necessarily.
These are not intended to be good for animal applications.
NO LED available to the hobby can produce the correct UV bands that duplicate natural sunlight that is any where near practical to use.
NO LED is proper to use now as to effectively replace merc vapor or flo. bulbs in providing correct UV to prevent MBD in our animals.

Please keep in mind--
just because they are "LED"...
that means nothing as far as the spectral quality of light is concerned.

These are not good for animal applications. They are just best used on plants only.

All they would do is just force your chams to be bathed in purple / pink light all day.:cautious:



Interesting side note about the light spectrum these and similar lights like them put out....
I once worked in a pet shop where the owner was being weird and put aquari-lux (same pinkish purple "grow" spectrum as these LEDs) bulbs in the store ceiling fixtures.
It gave me and other people who worked there massive headaches due to the un-natural spectrum.
And I wouldn't want to risk poor chams getting pounding headaches too!! o_O


"Plant Lights" of this nature (LED or Flo.) produce a spectrum of light that is highly "spiked" in the red and blue wavelengths.
*The red and blue wavelengths match a plant's chlorophyll absorptive spectrum,
so ..
in THEORY, these are good for plants because they don't use up any (or very little) electricity in generating wavelengths of light in the other color bands. In theory they produce only the light the plant can use to make food via its clorophyll and do not waste energy generating light of needless wavelengths the plant can not "use".
That is why they give off this very un-natural purple cast.

In the ad copy on Amazon it says: "worry free sunlight". lol and "instant indoor sunlight"....
OMG LOL!!
the (visual) light of these is absolutely NOTHING like natural sunlight.
These are so far off the chart as to match the spectrum of what real sunlight is.
Those statements are so ridiculous it is appalling.

I wasn't going to bother and post because it really not my concern what others do with their money.
But then I though about it and I didn't want any of my forum friends to get taken spending their hard earned cash on something like this and end up with something so tatlly different then what they think they would be getting.
Trust me, there is so much better and more appropriate LED lights out there.

So I figured I would butt in and try and educate folks as to what sort of product the were looking at.:cool:

Anyway,
again...
if I were a newbie ..
I can understand how this would *seem* like cutting edge LED and be something to get.

So I hope I have helped make aware a little bit is to what these "Grow Buddy "
LED are, and are not. :)
Cheers!
Thanks.
Todd
 
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Thank you for all of your responses! I want to add that I was not hoping to replace the UV lighting that is appropriate, only add to the lighting to assist with plant growth. Thank you again for all the help. I did enough research to note the differences in the wavelengths and there bein no UVA or UVB in the grow- buddy.
 
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Hardlyquinn, I noticed that Venutus1 responded and as is typical of him he didn't try to sell you anything. That's integrity.

Truth is he is one of the most well versed members on lighting and also happens to sell the very best light systems for our hobby to not just hobbyists, but zoos and other professional organizations.

Lighting is a critical aspect of our hobby, it's also one of the more expensive things we buy for our weird lizards, I personally have a few lights from him. It would money well spent to speak with him. It takes all the guess work out it.
 
just because they are "LED"... that means nothing as far as the spectral quality of light is concerned.
Many people think that is good just because it is the newest 'fad".

http://www.amazon.com/Grow-The-Buddy-Greenhouse-Hydroponic/dp/B010I72HT6

But nope, not necessarily.
These are not intended to be good for animal applications.
NO LED available to the hobby can produce the correct UV bands that duplicate natural sunlight that is any where near practical to use.
NO LED is proper to use now as to effectively replace merc vapor or flo. bulbs in providing correct UV to prevent MBD in our animals.

Please keep in mind--
just because they are "LED"...
that means nothing as far as the spectral quality of light is concerned.

These are not good for animal applications. They are just best used on plants only.

All they would do is just force your chams to be bathed in purple / pink light all day.:cautious:



Interesting side note about the light spectrum these and similar lights like them put out....
I once worked in a pet shop where the owner was being weird and put aquari-lux (same pinkish purple "grow" spectrum as these LEDs) bulbs in the store ceiling fixtures.
It gave me and other people who worked there massive headaches due to the un-natural spectrum.
And I wouldn't want to risk poor chams getting pounding headaches too!! o_O


"Plant Lights" of this nature (LED or Flo.) produce a spectrum of light that is highly "spiked" in the red and blue wavelengths.
*The red and blue wavelengths match a plant's chlorophyll absorptive spectrum,
so ..
in THEORY, these are good for plants because they don't use up any (or very little) electricity in generating wavelengths of light in the other color bands. In theory they produce only the light the plant can use to make food via its clorophyll and do not waste energy generating light of needless wavelengths the plant can not "use".
That is why they give off this very un-natural purple cast.

In the ad copy on Amazon it says: "worry free sunlight". lol and "instant indoor sunlight"....
OMG LOL!!
the (visual) light of these is absolutely NOTHING like natural sunlight.
These are so far off the chart as to match the spectrum of what real sunlight is.
Those statements are so ridiculous it is appalling.

I wasn't going to bother and post because it really not my concern what others do with their money.
But then I though about it and I didn't want any of my forum friends to get taken spending their hard earned cash on something like this and end up with something so tatlly different then what they think they would be getting.
Trust me, there is so much better and more appropriate LED lights out there.

So I figured I would butt in and try and educate folks as to what sort of product the were looking at.:cool:

Anyway,
again...
if I were a newbie ..
I can understand how this would *seem* like cutting edge LED and be something to get.

So I hope I have helped make aware a little bit is to what these "Grow Buddy "
LED are, and are not. :)
Cheers!
Thanks.
Todd
All true Todd, leds have come a long way for animals, I run high powered leds I'm only on my reef tank with excellent results,but they need in the 400-420 nm range for growth and health so while they grow coral and plants great def no contest on what a quality t5 can do for uvb :)
I love my tropic blaze fixture.
 
Hardlyquinn, I noticed that Venutus1 responded and as is typical of him he didn't try to sell you anything. That's integrity.

Truth is he is one of the most well versed members on lighting and also happens to sell the very best light systems for our hobby to not just hobbyists, but zoos and other professional organizations.

Lighting is a critical aspect of our hobby, it's also one of the more expensive things we buy for our weird lizards, I personally have a few lights from him. It would money well spent to speak with him. It takes all the guess work out it.
This^
 
All I'm saying is that you can buy an led that's in the red and blue wave spectrum at 6500k, being good for plant growth, that will do the job just fine. That's what the special grow bulbs are. The exact same thing. It's what I used and have never had any problems. No need to buy a special bulb IMO.
 
Hardlyquinn, I noticed that Venutus1 responded and as is typical of him he didn't try to sell you anything. That's integrity.

Truth is he is one of the most well versed members on lighting and also happens to sell the very best light systems for our hobby to not just hobbyists, but zoos and other professional organizations.

Lighting is a critical aspect of our hobby, it's also one of the more expensive things we buy for our weird lizards, I personally have a few lights from him. It would money well spent to speak with him. It takes all the guess work out it.

Thank you old Cham Keeper!

You are most wise.
:)
Todd
 
Thank you again everyone, I really appreciate the help. I will definitely look at what is out there. When it comes down to it, I want safe and effective lighting and I'd rather go through plants or switch them every couple months rather than stress out yoda with the crazy lighting. I hadn't thought about that, Venutus1, so thanks for that!
 
what are good bulbs or tubes fir growing plants not for uvb I got that I just don’t wann get something an it hurts the valid eyes
 
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