# New Arcadia Pro Heat Projector



## labmad

So ordered the new deep heat projector for a new beardie viv - a tad disappointed I have to say though - probe is 14inch below the heat and only hits just over 33 degrees - trying to get 40 ish degrees or slightly higher for the basking spot.

I did wonder if it was faulty but when reading on the box it states it only gets to 36 degrees at 30cm :-(

To be honest I prob wouldn't have bought this if I new this prior to purchase as it will now mean I have to raise the basking spot higher which is fine but attaching a probe to stay in place will be a pain :-(

So it might be back to a basking light bulb unless anyone else uses these and has any advice?
Cheers


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## Central Scotland Reptiles

So you are disappointed the product does as instructed on the box?


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## labmad

Central Scotland Reptiles said:


> So you are disappointed the product does as instructed on the box?


I guess my point is that I didn't realise this as I bought via an online retailer and not a shop where I could have read the info in the box - but thanks for taking the time to post! I thought that I would have heated it no bother at this height but hey now I know and it's info for other people buying via an online source too.

I've ordered a bamboo root jungle gym so I'm sure that will sort the issue


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## Arcadiajohn

Hi,

The lamp provides heat in a different way to standard lamps via the projection of true infra red. This is highly usable by animals as it heats them through.

The lamp clearly says that it can replace a 100w spot or ceramic.

They do take a day or so to 'Burn in' and you do need to have a good deal of thick rock and natural decoration under it to both store and reflect that heat as with the sun,

I have no problem at all getting 42 degrees from this 50w lamp at 8" from the lamp over stone and through a mesh. In-fact the lamp is only running on around 60-70% of its total power.

Keep going, remember that it does not provide useless 'warm air' around the lamp but natural heat deep within the animal over a fairly wide and defined area.

At 10-12" away from the basking zone you have a gradient area of around 8", much safer and more usable than tight beam spots that can over heat the surface of the skin before the animal has regulated properly and over a tiny, maybe 1-2" radius

Keep going 

You will get there


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## labmad

Arcadiajohn said:


> Hi,
> 
> The lamp provides heat in a different way to standard lamps via the projection of true infra red. This is highly usable by animals as it heats them through.
> 
> The lamp clearly says that it can replace a 100w spot or ceramic.
> 
> They do take a day or so to 'Burn in' and you do need to have a good deal of thick rock and natural decoration under it to both store and reflect that heat as with the sun,
> 
> I have no problem at all getting 42 degrees from this 50w lamp at 8" from the lamp over stone and through a mesh. In-fact the lamp is only running on around 60-70% of its total power.
> 
> Keep going, remember that it does not provide useless 'warm air' around the lamp but natural heat deep within the animal over a fairly wide and defined area.
> 
> At 10-12" away from the basking zone you have a gradient area of around 8", much safer and more usable than tight beam spots that can over heat the surface of the skin before the animal has regulated properly and over a tiny, maybe 1-2" radius
> 
> Keep going
> 
> You will get there


Hi John - thanks for the input - I'll turn it back on once my decor arrives and hopefully it will burn in as I'll be collecting my beardie 1st Oct so all being well the temps will have been stable long before that date


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## Arcadiajohn

It's a big empty space for it to fill at the mo, get the substrate in, use good thick rock and slate and decorate over that with branches to your upper index basking platform. 

Let it all settle and I'm sure it will do what you want.

It's not a bad temp already, from 50w  

John 



labmad said:


> Hi John - thanks for the input - I'll turn it back on once my decor arrives and hopefully it will burn in as I'll be collecting my beardie 1st Oct so all being well the temps will have been stable long before that date


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## labmad

Arcadiajohn said:


> It's a big empty space for it to fill at the mo, get the substrate in, use good thick rock and slate and decorate over that with branches to your upper index basking platform.
> 
> Let it all settle and I'm sure it will do what you want.
> 
> It's not a bad temp already, from 50w
> 
> John


Ok cool thanks - substrate wise I was just going to use lino?


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## Arcadiajohn

that's such a bad idea....

Lino= totally no-natural, cannot effect wild-like behaviour and enrichment and is made from oil, Heat up oil and you have vast VOC release inc Cyanide. 

Go natural, provide the best and your animals will live a long happy life 




labmad said:


> Ok cool thanks - substrate wise I was just going to use lino?


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## labmad

Arcadiajohn said:


> that's such a bad idea....
> 
> Lino= totally no-natural, cannot effect wild-like behaviour and enrichment and is made from oil, Heat up oil and you have vast VOC release inc Cyanide.
> 
> Go natural, provide the best and your animals will live a long happy life


Oh flip - seen so many vivs with lino in too and don't hear issues - I assumed loose substrates were avoided due to poss impaction?

So maybe look at something like excavator earth?


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## Tortoise Man

labmad said:


> Oh flip - seen so many vivs with lino in too and don't hear issues - I assumed loose substrates were avoided due to poss impaction?
> 
> So maybe look at something like excavator earth?


Have a look in the Lizard Section for help, there is a pinned topic on top which will help explain what substrate to use. I agree with John, lino is just unnatural and doesn't help the lizard show its normal behaviour. Generally people just use soil/sand mix, but as I said exact mixture should be in the pinned post.

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/lizards/1105953-basic-guide-keeping-bearded-dragon.html

In terms of impaction, if the setup and care is correct then you shouldn't have to worry about it.


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## labmad

Thanks for the link 

I might actually look into the arcadia arid substrate and use as a substrate rather than a bioactive one?


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## labmad

Substrate (arcadia arid mix) will arrive Tuesday 3x 10l bags of it so should have enough for the viv. Hoping it's pretty dry on arrival so I don't have to put it into trays in the greenhouse to dry out


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## Arcadiajohn

It has 30% Scottish volcanic rock. A natural product that will dry in the viv naturally maintaining a dry surface but useful humidity beneath


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## labmad

Arcadiajohn said:


> It has 30% Scottish volcanic rock. A natural product that will dry in the viv naturally maintaining a dry surface but useful humidity beneath


So would you say it should be ok to put into the viv straight away out of the bag providing it's not obviously wet to touch? The dragon won't be going inn The viv for 4or 5 days after the substrate goes in at the earliest anyway.


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## Arcadiajohn

Yes, I always do, 

Don't forget that wild earth may be dry on the surface but 60-80% humidity 6-12" down.

It's all very safe




labmad said:


> So would you say it should be ok to put into the viv straight away out of the bag providing it's not obviously wet to touch? The dragon won't be going inn The viv for 4or 5 days after the substrate goes in at the earliest anyway.


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## DStruct

If I have the Arcadia T5 Slimline Lumiraire 12% for my bearded dragon as I do, would that be enough light to use along side a Deep Heat Projector? 

Id rather not have to buy a Jungle Dawn as well you see.


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## Arcadiajohn

Dragons need a high level of visible light, this is a draw to basking.

T5s are super bright but still not at the levels needed to activate the brain.

the DHP can be used in 2 ways with high light requirement species.

1. Use the DHP alongside your standard Tungsten or Halogen lamp and T5 to provide the missing low and mid range wavelengths of I-R and to energise it correctly. You can adjust your stat so that the system on the whole is providing well.

2. You use the DHP with your T5 and use a JungleDawn to greatly increase the visible light. If set right this will still equate to lower running costs but will supply the correct wavelengths of heat deep into the animal.

We must remember that the DHP produces energy from light that is more effective than long wavelength I-R and it delivers this energy deeper into the animal energising it fully.

You could indeed have a system where it was super hot but still not providing as much usable energy as one where the temps were slightly lower but the DHP was delivering energy.

DHP simply gets the job done in a safe and natural way, that is always best as it follows long term wild development




DStruct said:


> If I have the Arcadia T5 Slimline Lumiraire 12% for my bearded dragon as I do, would that be enough light to use along side a Deep Heat Projector?
> 
> Id rather not have to buy a Jungle Dawn as well you see.


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## DStruct

John just come my house and set it up for me, would be easier.... ha


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## DStruct

Rex better appreciate always breaking my bank like this!
To go along with his Arcadia Slimline Luminaire 12% D3+ T5


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## Arcadiajohn

I'm sure he does,

we have to think about our electronics as 'Life support'

when its set up the animal will have all it needs to stay healthy.

If we do not get the electronics right the animal will be under energised and not able to function to the wild level, nor assimilate, store and use the foods you provide it properly.


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## DStruct

I love the little fella so whatever I can do to give him the best possible life, I will do my best to do so! Hence my non stop bashing your head with questions, I just constantly need reassurance with everything I guess, I do apologise! 
Not even 100% certain how to set these new pieces of kit up, I am 99% sure I know but if you have any pictures or videos where I can see them setup so I can confirm what I think is right, would be good ? If not I will have to wait, set them up, take picture and hope you say thats right rather than wrong


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## Arcadiajohn

this shows a fair bit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLrfDtMNO58




DStruct said:


> I love the little fella so whatever I can do to give him the best possible life, I will do my best to do so! Hence my non stop bashing your head with questions, I just constantly need reassurance with everything I guess, I do apologise!
> Not even 100% certain how to set these new pieces of kit up, I am 99% sure I know but if you have any pictures or videos where I can see them setup so I can confirm what I think is right, would be good ? If not I will have to wait, set them up, take picture and hope you say thats right rather than wrong


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## DStruct

I think I should figure out, I am just going to replace my current basking bulb with the DHP which is directly above the basking spot.

As for the Jungle Dawn I plan to put that roughly 1/3 horizontally on ceiling, so just past where the DHP will be.. beside it but not too close to it, and parallel with the basking spot itself and ofcourse aiming at the basking spot.

As for DHP, is it still best to fix the dimming stats probe directly on the actual surface of the basking spot? I remember you saying this originally


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## Shellsfeathers&fur

DStruct said:


> Rex better appreciate always breaking my bank like this!
> To go along with his Arcadia Slimline Luminaire 12% D3+ T5
> image


Everything is so expensive. They can offer virtually a quarter and nearly half the rrp as a reduction and obviously still make a profit. If prices weren't so high to start with............:devil:


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## Whosthedaddy2

Got mine today


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## DStruct

Same here, both my bearded dragon and leopard gecko have them now


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## Whosthedaddy2

Anyone needing to run additional heating as the temps are a little low despite being tested for half a day unstated?

In my 60cm cubes it seemed ok but in a 3 foot Viv the heat projector is struggling to raise ambients


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## Arcadiajohn

Hi, These lamps work in a different but far more natural way to old style heating.

They deliver the most bioavailable photons of energy deeper, directly into the dermis and as such energise the animal correctly.

They do not directly heat the air, as such we have to use them in a slightly different way.

Firstly, as above the most energy is being projected directly downwards over the basking area. This is where your animal will experience the highest quantity of energy from both I-R and UV.

These lamps should be fitted over this natural stone so that the light that pushes down onto then can then radiate back off into the enclosure as I-R--C which heats the air. 

So, this is a two point heating system. Direct bioavailable exposure plus radiated heat through convection from the rocks and branches.

The probe should be place just slightly away from the out ring of the projection of the lamp. This is where you need to measure your temp. This will energise and radiate all of the time the lamp is on as it acts a natural energy store. The energy within that store will heat the air to a degree and, over time! create a thermal gradient.

SO, new lamp, new tech, different running method. The energy it provides will provide more 'usable' energy to your animal faster than using old tech at higher temps but it does need to run all of the time so that you have a natural energy flow.

Probe slightly away from the lamp, measure the basking temp on the rock under the lamp and let convection do the rest, just as with the sun.

I maintain a 3'x2'x18" glass, mesh topped viv with a basking zone 12" from the lamp at near 40 degrees.  They can do it but it takes a bit of time to settle.

Remember also, this is a 50w lamp, it is not instant heat, it is terrestrial radiative energy. Far better, far more efficient and vastly more natural.

You can see a bit more here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLrfDtMNO58 

Hope this helps. 

John,




Whosthedaddy2 said:


> Anyone needing to run additional heating as the temps are a little low despite being tested for half a day unstated?
> 
> In my 60cm cubes it seemed ok but in a 3 foot Viv the heat projector is struggling to raise ambients


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