Coil bulb

[Martini5788]

Agreed. My question is, if the product cannot be manufactured consistently to not be harmful, is it worth the risk? If is it related, somehow, to a microscopic crack in the coating that occurs from normal shipping practices, is it worth the risk? The product itself sounds like it is a huge headache to work with, burn it for a week, mount it horizontally, place it in the seventh house while Jupiter aligns with Mars, is it worth the hassle and risk?

I guess I just have lost sight of what the debate is, or why it's even debatable. There are enough first hand accounts of something causing harm and the mere fact that it appears to be completely random is enough to scare me off, but in the end, is it worth the risk?

And I can't seem to come to any other any than, no.

Very well put. Couldn't have said it better myself

 

[Levi the Leopard]

, place it in the seventh house while Jupiter aligns with Mars, is it worth the hassle and risk?.

Hahaha this cracked me!

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Before I even had torts, I bought a 15w coil bulb for myself to treat SAD. Up until then, I had only used the tubes meant for reptiles as well. I had the bulb in a fixture above my desk, 2 feet above my head. Boy, did they ever burn my eyes! Twenty minutes of reading was all I could take of it. It was a few days later that I figured it out it was the bulb. I didn't want to throw it out, so I put it in a ceiling fixture, in my kitchen, and it's fine there. I've never used a regular coil bulb that close, so I can't say they have the same effect.


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

I don't know what SAD is, but did I understand you correctly?

You used a coil UV bulb at your desk and it hurt your eyes?!
..wow. That says something.
And its good you mentioned you've never used a regular coil bulb at that distance to compare...but still.

I don't use artificial UV but if I did, I wouldn't use a coil bulb if someone paid me.

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

I don't know what SAD is, but did I understand you correctly?

You used a coil UV bulb at your desk and it hurt your eyes?!
..wow. That says something.
And its good you mentioned you've never used a regular coil bulb at that distance to compare...but still.

I don't use artificial UV but if I did, I wouldn't use a coil bulb if someone paid me.

SAD - Seasonal affective disorder. It's thought to happen due to a lack of exposure to sunlight when the days of the year become shorter, resulting in some people not producing enough melatonin and serotonin, thus giving them a kind of 'winter depression'. It's very common in the Nordic countries.

 

[Abdulla6169]

Before I even had torts, I bought a 15w coil bulb for myself to treat SAD. Up until then, I had only used the tubes meant for reptiles as well. I had the bulb in a fixture above my desk, 2 feet above my head. Boy, did they ever burn my eyes! Twenty minutes of reading was all I could take of it. It was a few days later that I figured it out it was the bulb. I didn't want to throw it out, so I put it in a ceiling fixture, in my kitchen, and it's fine there. I've never used a regular coil bulb that close, so I can't say they have the same effect.


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

Maybe it's the closeness & intensity. Some brands do say only for reptiles:

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

I have never, and doubt I will ever use a cfl bulb. I don't even have them in my house, they terrify me and they give me headache. I remember the 'The Great Light bulb Revolt' here in the UK when Europe decided to phase out the incandescent and read all kinds of articles on the detrimental effects of these cfl bulbs. My understanding was that the problem was the phosphor coating would all too often crack and therefore leak more UV than it should.
For me, if an energy saving cfl can give me headache, I ain't putting a high UVB cfl in my tortoise enclosure.

 

[littleginsu]

I admit, I have the coil type bulbs in many of my fixtures, I have not noticed any adverse effects, but the fixtures encapsulate the bulbs in glass, so maybe the glass filters out the bad stuff... I hope. I have seen other CFL Light bulbs that are self-contained in a glass bulb.. I wonder if those are any safer?

Anywho, I would like to thank whoever started the thread and those who participated, it has been a stimulating and thought provoking discussion.

 

[zenoandthetortoise]

I admit, I have the coil type bulbs in many of my fixtures, I have not noticed any adverse effects, but the fixtures encapsulate the bulbs in glass, so maybe the glass filters out the bad stuff... I hope. I have seen other CFL Light bulbs that are self-contained in a glass bulb.. I wonder if those are any safer?

Anywho, I would like to thank whoever started the thread and those who participated, it has been a stimulating and thought provoking discussion.

Just to be clear, is the glass part of the bulb itself, or a component of the fixture/hood assembly? This is important because glass is opaque to UV. Many CFLs for general use are now incased in glass, I expect for this reason. On the other hand, UV-specific bulbs use a quartz housing to transmit the desired UV. So the glass, whether by design or by your application is shielding the UV, which may be good if overexposure or inappropriate wavelength are present, bad if your trying to provide for vitamin D.

 

[Tom]

SAD - Seasonal affective disorder. It's thought to happen due to a lack of exposure to sunlight when the days of the year become shorter, resulting in some people not producing enough melatonin and serotonin, thus giving them a kind of 'winter depression'. It's very common in the Nordic countries.

It runs in my family. Good thing I live in one of the sunniest places on Earth!!!

 

[Tom]

Just to be clear, is the glass part of the bulb itself, or a component of the fixture/hood assembly? This is important because glass is opaque to UV. Many CFLs for general use are now incased in glass, I expect for this reason. On the other hand, UV-specific bulbs use a quartz housing to transmit the desired UV. So the glass, whether by design or by your application is shielding the UV, which may be good if overexposure or inappropriate wavelength are present, bad if your trying to provide for vitamin D.

Most of the cfls in my house are of the type encased in glass. They are meant to simulate the old style "flood" bulb incandescents and fit into recessed "cans". The few that aren't are mostly surrounded by decorative glass "cans". So far these have not bothered me or my family. I pick the 5000-6500K ones because I hate the yellowish tint of the 2500K ones. Being such a cheap bastar..., uh..., I mean economically conscious fellow, I sure like the lower wattage and resultant power savings. These bulbs are also several feet or more away from us, as opposed to 12 inches away, like what might happen in some reptile enclosures.

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

It runs in my family. Good thing I live in one of the sunniest places on Earth!!!

Have you ever seen snow, Tom?



Sent from my iPhone using Tortoise Forum

 

[Tom]

Have you ever seen snow, Tom?

Yes. I actually work in it from time to time. Did a whole movie in DesMoines Iowa in the dead of winter. December and January. I actually didn't mind it too much, but I wouldn't want to live that way. NOT good tortoise weather. While I was navigating ice storms in Iowa, my tortoises were walking around in the warm sunshine with their baby sitters.

 

[zenoandthetortoise]

Most of the cfls in my house are of the type encased in glass. They are meant to simulate the old style "flood" bulb incandescents and fit into recessed "cans". The few that aren't are mostly surrounded by decorative glass "cans". So far these have not bothered me or my family. I pick the 5000-6500K ones because I hate the yellowish tint of the 2500K ones. Being such a cheap bastar..., uh..., I mean economically conscious fellow, I sure like the lower wattage and resultant power savings. These bulbs are also several feet or more away from us, as opposed to 12 inches away, like what might happen in some reptile enclosures.

The distancing issue is huge (bad pun). If the distance from source is >5x the longest dimension of the source, the irradiance is promotional to to the inverse square of the distance.
Put simply, if the distance is halved, the irradiance doesn't double, it is squared.
Closer proximity is called near-field radiation and no noticeable decline is detected.

So placement as well as source amplification from reflective hoods are suspects in the eye hazard mystery.

 

[tortadise]

Here's a nice study done on this. Specifically to skin and eyes.
I stick with old uv tube bulbs. They work great, last a while, require little power, and year after decades still work great in part with outside time when weather permits.

When we get so caught up in conspiracy theories and have to prove to one another why not to use something or why to use something. Then what's the point in having a fun peaceful hobby. I stick with the old proven good ways, and smile when enjoying my tortoises. I don't need a company trying to merchandise and cut corners for a product of a hobby that just makes them money.

This study came back with inconclusive evidence, but urged to be weary of its use, and change away from products if out of norm occur. To me that's a sign of don't use. Because we don't know how bad it could or what type of damage it can do.


http://lrt.sagepub.com/content/45/1/40.full.pdf

 

[mike taylor]

Thanks Kelly you took all the he said she said out and put it on the table .

 

[tortadise]

For those interested in dissecting this to another level.

Here is a paper of the ocular anatomy of testudo.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1259602/?page=1
Much like humans. But you can google for humans and compare the two if you'd like. Since the study was done for human exposure.but both Chelonia and homosapia so have binocular Vision. So the study could blanket to Chelonia per say. Most of the paper on the bulbs are way beyond my comprehension and terminology and methods of just beyond my comprehension. So by all means, I layer some valid information, make you own decisions.

 

[Jabuticaba]

I don't know what SAD is, but did I understand you correctly?

You used a coil UV bulb at your desk and it hurt your eyes?!
..wow. That says something.
And its good you mentioned you've never used a regular coil bulb at that distance to compare...but still.

I don't use artificial UV but if I did, I wouldn't use a coil bulb if someone paid me.

Sorry for the delayed response. Yes, I used the coil bulb for reading at my desk, during winter. SAD = Seasonal Affective Disorder (aka winter blues), mainly caused by lack of bright light--which the brain needs in order to stop producing melatonin and start up serotonin production, in the morning--and vitamin D deficiency. The liner UVB bulbs for terrarium had really helped relieve most of my SAD symptoms, for a few years during out harsh winters, which is why I thought to try the coil bulb. And, no, I never tried using a regular coil bulb to compare because I wasn't about to risk more damage. Like someone mentioned before, it's just not worth it. (Plus, reg coil bulbs don't have UVB.)

How do your torts get by in the winter? Are you somewhere warm, with mild enough temps that they can safely brumate?


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[Jabuticaba]

Maybe it's the closeness & intensity. Some brands do say only for reptiles:
View attachment 91941

I used it according to the recommendations on the package, just like I had done--and still do--with the linear bulbs.


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[Levi the Leopard]

@Jabuticaba
I've never used artificial UV because I kept torts in SoCal. Recently, I moved and now that I'm in Oregon things might change...but we'll see.

To keep this thread on topic, I just want to say thanks again for sharing your experience with the coil UV bulb. I found it enlightening

 

[Jabuticaba]

@Jabuticaba
I've never used artificial UV because I kept torts in SoCal. Recently, I moved and now that I'm in Oregon things might change...but we'll see.

To keep this thread on topic, I just want to say thanks again for sharing your experience with the coil UV bulb. I found it enlightening

You're welcome. Glad to contribute my personal experience.


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES