Light Bulbs other then Zoo Med?

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DaisyDuke

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Sorry this is my second question in two days. The pet shops in my area only carry Zoo Med light bulbs. They keep blowing out on me. I got one back the end of September that blew after a few seconds of turning it on. I couldn't get back to the pet shop for a few weeks after that so in that time I used a regular clear 100 watt. I get to the pet shop and he tells me Zoo med wants customers to call them for replacements. I call and get a new one. A month later that one blows. Called again they send me a new one last week, today that one blew. Their 3 month warranty on my original is over and I really don't want to spend $10 on a light bulb that won't last and go through this all over again. Are there other brands I can purchase online? Is this that brand or Daylight bulbs in general?
 

PeanutbuttER

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ReptileUV makes nice MVBs but lately their customer service has, well, stank on ice. However, they offer a 1 year warranty (sweet) and do make high quality bulbs.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi DaisyDuke:

First of all, I want you to climb right out from under that inhibition blanket and stand tall. Your questions are every bit as important as anyone else's questions. There is no limit to how many you can ask or how many times you can start a thread. :p

I buy my MVBs online. I shop around for the cheapest price per brand and the cheapest shipping. The last time I bought a couple MVBs I got them from Coastal (he's a member here). He's in Florida and you'd think the shipping to me in California would have been high, but it wasn't. And I recieved the bulbs within the week.

But before you buy another new bulb, try to figure out why your existing bulbs are blowing. There may be something wrong with the plug or with the light fixture. Or even the circuit you plug into.

And excuse me...but $10 for your light bulb????? I'm sorry, but the MVBs cost upwards of $40! So me thinks we're not talking about the same type of bulb. Are you using this bulb for the UVB that it puts out? for heat? The MVB I'm talking about puts out both. Its a 100 watt PowerSun UV by Zoo Med. And it cost $39.99 plus shipping.
 

jeffbens0n

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Odds are with that many blowing on you that your fixture is meant for 60 watt or less and your putting a 100 watt in there. Best bet is to check your fixture and get a new one if necessary.
 

DaisyDuke

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Thank you all for your responses. I just didn't want to clutter the board, especially if it seemed like a silly question:p

My fixture is meant for a 100 watt. A regular 100 watt clear bulb hasn't blown in this yet so I don't think it's my fixture. I read some reviews about a half hour ago and it seems I'm not the only one having this problem with these bulbs. My bulb is the "Zoo Med Daylight Blue Reptile Bulb 100 Watt" I thought it had UV because that is what the pet store owner said but the box just says,
"Full spectrum daylight bulb for heating reptile or amphibian terrariums."

I think I am just going to buy one of the ones suggested. Thank you all so much for your advice and replies.
 

abra

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I have the PowerSun UV too, I got it on LLLreptile.com, that was the cheapest I could find it. Not sure about Coastal though...
 

jeffbens0n

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DaisyDuke said:
My bulb is the "Zoo Med Daylight Blue Reptile Bulb 100 Watt" I thought it had UV because that is what the pet store owner said but the box just says,
"Full spectrum daylight bulb for heating reptile or amphibian terrariums."

I think I am just going to buy one of the ones suggested. Thank you all so much for your advice and replies.

It does have UV, but it would only provide UVA. You are looking for UVA and UVB. With a mercury vapor bulb as others have mentioned, you would get UVA, UVB, and heat, all in one!
 

wildponey21

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Ok i have one about the power sun mvb. I got a 160watt three days ago. it took over 3 weeks to get here the snail mail is right. Well back to the point i have 2 red foots. I have a 7 by 6 foot trot table for them. Well i got the mvb and put in and it hangs about 3 to 4 feet above the table. is that to high will they still get the uvb, uva that they need. When i looked into them is said do not hang more then 6 feet high. Also afther i truned it on my red foots were eating and walk all over for the frist time in a most two weeks. I don't know if was the new light or if it took them 2 weeks to feel safe in the new table.
 

TheWolfmanTom

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If your talking regular daylight bulbs, you can use GE reval bulbs instead. I tend to avoid clear glass bulbs.
 

Madkins007

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1. A lot of pet products, like a lot of baby products, serve no real practical use, These blue bulbs, for example, really do not do much more than what a plain white bulb would do, other than offer an unspecified amount of UVA and provide an unbalanced color spectrum weak in the reds and yellows.

2. A true UVB bulb will cost you more, but provide more benefit. Unfortunately, they cost significantly more than $25, but the good ones do last a decent amount of time.

3. (For Wildponey) When you mount a MVB-UVB bulb, you get the best UV effect at about 12" over the shell, and the amount of UV spreads out and decreases in dosage as you raise it. In general, mounting it at 24" only gets about 1/4th of the benefit, etc. The higher you go, the lower the heat AND the lower the UV benefit. At 3-4' up, there is not a lot of UV still hitting any one part of the table.

You may want to think about replacing one of those bulbs with a cheaper sun or heat bulb and saving the UV bulb for when the other goes out, then lowering the remaining UV bulb to about 12" over the shells. This will give you a warm area with good UV and the other bulb would just do light and heat. If the habitat is warm enough without it, you can also time your UVB so it is on for about 6 hours a day instead of all day so it lasts longer and simulates the hotter part of the day.
 
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