Removing the glass of your treble light to turn it into a UVB source...

nightanole

Chameleon Enthusiast
https://www.reddit.com/r/HerpHomes/comments/d8dn96/unfiltered_halogen_uvb_level_testing_with/

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips...uble-Ended-Light-Bulb-2-Pack-416875/202799649


Im not sure if this is ingenious or not. For a bit of science, halogen bulbs need a special kind of glass, and that glass transmitts UVB really well, and at the temps halogens burn at, they produce alot of UVB. To the point "all" halogen bulbs have some sort of UVB mitigation. This can be the "bulb in the bulb" package that has the widdle halogen bulb inside of a glass bulb with a UVB glass filter on it. Or in the case of "big"bulbs, the UVB filter glass is part of the housing.

But what this person did has 2 issues to me. In my tegu setup, i have 4 35 watt halogens spread out in a 2ft long line, and that is enough to create a 110F basking zone (dont bust out the pitch forks, this is low for tegus, most try to get a 6-12" section to 135f air temps for a gradient). having a 150 watt "spot light" is going to get hot spots, so im not sure if its going to be safe for a basking zone. My second issue is the UVB. As some of you know i am a light junky, and UVI meters (solar meter 6.5) only measure natural light that animals should be exposed to. The posters readings look great from that view. But the poster does not have a UVB meter(solar meter 6.2) to measure if any nasty non terrestrial deep UVB or UVC (the stuff that caused all the eye problems a decade ago when the first version CFL reptile bulbs came out) is also coming out. Manufactures block UVB from halogens for safety reasons...
 
It's interesting. I don't doubt that this could put out an effective amount of UVB. I do question the benefit of using the same light as a heat source and UVB source. Particularly with a light that generates so much heat. UVB's rapid fall off combined with the halogens temp makes me concerned that there may not be a perfectly optimal zone of adequate UVB and temp. Two lights make this easier.

Also, and my memory is foggy on the important part, but... I had a double ended 150w Metal Halide over a very small (7g) reef tank. I had to purchase a specific type of glass to put between the bulb and water to shield the IR. I could be misremembering the actual wavelength it cut, but I do remember that that tiny piece of glass had to be special ordered and cost me $70.

So, obviously MH's are different then halogens, but those are my primary two concerns.
 
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