Ben1233546

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
22
I've recently purchased two Arcadia products, the Ultra Seal fluorescent lighting controller and the lamp reflector. I'm trying to implement both of these products into my tortoise table but I'm having trouble. Could I possibly use zip ties to secure the light into place (zip tie the wires to the piece of wood running across the table). I have my doubts about this as I could strain and damage the light controller connectors and/or the zoo med fluorescent tube. Could this potentially work and be safe for my tortoise? I've emailed Arcadia about this and included the images of what I could do and they say they didn't see any issues fitting it like this.

I've attached some images on what I've done, I will make this more secure and make sure the light is straight with more zip ties if I decide to implement this.

20200318_202214.jpg20200318_202207.jpg20200318_202159.jpg20200318_202149.jpg20200318_202146[1].jpg
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,405
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
I'm surprised that reflector doesn't have some sort of hooks to hang the light. Those lights are pretty lightweight, so I doubt there's much strain on the cord hanging it your way, but just to make sure, maybe you could figure out a way to wrap string or zip ties around the ends of the light up to the wood cross piece instead of using the electric cord.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,265
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
FIrst, I'm not familiar with this type of equipment. My Arcadia bulbs are in a regular florescent fixtures and hung with light chain from the top of my enclosures. Is it possible to return these items and get a regular fixture that can be hung with hooks and chain? Your enclosure would make this very easy.

I see four issues to address:
  1. Any electrician will tell you not to hang it by the cords.
  2. Zip ties degrade over time and break/disintegrate. Added heat and UV make this happen even faster. I think you ought to use some galvanized or stainless steel baling wire instead of the zip ties.
  3. I don't think the reflector should be pressed up against or touching the bulb. You need a spacer of some sort in there.
  4. Arcadia bulbs make strong UV. Be sure to use a meter to make sure the tortoise(s) under it are getting the correct amount of UV and not too much. My 12% HO bulb needed to be mounted 22" away to not be too strong, and even at that distance, I only run them for 3-4 hours mid day because they make so much UV.
 

Ben1233546

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
22
FIrst, I'm not familiar with this type of equipment. My Arcadia bulbs are in a regular florescent fixtures and hung with light chain from the top of my enclosures. Is it possible to return these items and get a regular fixture that can be hung with hooks and chain? Your enclosure would make this very easy.

I see four issues to address:
  1. Any electrician will tell you not to hang it by the cords.
  2. Zip ties degrade over time and break/disintegrate. Added heat and UV make this happen even faster. I think you ought to use some galvanized or stainless steel baling wire instead of the zip ties.
  3. I don't think the reflector should be pressed up against or touching the bulb. You need a spacer of some sort in there.
  4. Arcadia bulbs make strong UV. Be sure to use a meter to make sure the tortoise(s) under it are getting the correct amount of UV and not too much. My 12% HO bulb needed to be mounted 22" away to not be too strong, and even at that distance, I only run them for 3-4 hours mid day because they make so much UV.


I will look into using wire instead of zip ties. The bulb isn't touching the reflector, it comes with some hooks that can attach to the tube so they won't touch. The bulb is a reptisun 25 watts t8 5.0 and they recommend to distance this bulb 30 cms away from the floor.
 

Thad

New Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2019
Messages
9
Location (City and/or State)
Belguim
I personaly think Tom is exagerating a bit. I use zipties in my professional life constantly and i almost never have issues with them.
That beeing said i personaly would not hang this up the way you did as i do expect issues with it aswell. I would take 2 pieces of wood and just drill out a hole a bit bigger than the lamps diameter and attach the wood to the beam and then slide the lamp in. Its cheap, its easy and its one of the best solutions i can think of. You could do this with zip ties but the wood is better.

As an alternative try checking for something along the lines of this:
buishouder-25mm-horizontale-of-verticale-montage-rvs-a4-aisi-316-30.jpg
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
Moderator
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
28,935
Location (City and/or State)
South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
All zip ties are not created equal. Some seem much more likely to fail quickly.
I used some to hold up the overhead sprinkler system in my outdoor pen. The first ones all completely fell apart after about 6 weeks. But the second group of about 50 of them are mostly still intact over a year later out in the full sun and heat. These are a different brand.
There are others in my attic away from any UVB light and they have lasted almost 20 years now.
That's just an example. But I've noticed that at both my job and elsewhere.
Some last much longer than others. This is both because of location, application and quality of the thing. But none of them should be considered a permanent situation.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,265
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
All zip ties are not created equal. Some seem much more likely to fail quickly.
I used some to hold up the overhead sprinkler system in my outdoor pen. The first ones all completely fell apart after about 6 weeks. But the second group of about 50 of them are mostly still intact over a year later out in the full sun and heat. These are a different brand.
There are others in my attic away from any UVB light and they have lasted almost 20 years now.
That's just an example. But I've noticed that at both my job and elsewhere.
Some last much longer than others. This is both because of location, application and quality of the thing. But none of them should be considered a permanent situation.
I've seen the same sort of thing. I use them in all sorts of applications too. I buy the UV protected ones and I'm constantly replacing the ones outside in the sun and weather. I've had some of them indoors tidying the wires behind my closed chambers that have been intact for years.
 
Top