# arcdia pro T5 UVB for plants



## jonnyuk06 (Aug 11, 2019)

hi all, new to the forum and new to keeping anything other than stick insects and marine fish.
My son and i are getting a crested gecko, we want to do a natural tank with live plants, i've been looking at lighting and although the above is great for the gecko (we are getting this light for its uvb), does it have enough punch to grow plants?
i understand about par etc from my marine tank, the problem is i an't find any info on this about that, is it because it only does ubv?
the light will be mounted on top of a 30x30x45 exo tank, when the crestie is fully grown we will move it out to a 45x45x60
thanks in advance


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## Tarron (May 30, 2010)

You'll need a plant growth light to really get decent growth, unfortunately. You'll get some sustained growth for a bit from a UVB tube, but it won't be the best and wont last forever.

You'd be best off getting an arcadia Jungle Dawn or Reptile Systems New Dawn compact to provide plant growth lighting


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## jonnyuk06 (Aug 11, 2019)

thanks for the quick response. are there led lighting units that incorporate both uvb and day light leds in one unit?


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## Tarron (May 30, 2010)

jonnyuk06 said:


> thanks for the quick response. are there led lighting units that incorporate both uvb and day light leds in one unit?


You can get products like the Reptile Systems Twin T5 Luminaire, that can hold a T5 UVB tube and a T5 New Dawn lamp, these are great units, available in 2, 3 and 4ft. I stock these (below) and we offer a custom service. As standard, they come with a single 6% and a 12% tube, but you can upgrade to have a 6% and T5 New Dawn instead.

https://bioactiveherps.co.uk/product/reptile-systems-twin-t5-luminaire-24w/

Arcadia offer the new Jungle Bar, which is the same fitting as the T5 Pro, and can be linked to it too.

I'm not aware of any other units like that that are decent, the best thing is 2 seperate units.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

Hi,


By far, the coupling of ProT5 and JungleDawn-LED Bar is you best option. Not only are they very easy to use and very affordable, but they link together from one plug,


The ProT5 as you know is very reliable and can be easily rested on a mesh or fitted inside of a viv. All items are included in the kit, with a genuine Arcadia Reptile lamp of your choice included. You can see all of the details, outputs and videos here https://www.arcadiareptile.com/lighting/prot5/


No, there are no commercial or reliable LED products with UV, this is a complex question with a page long answer, but let's be brief and just say that the tech is probably still 10 years away, incredibly expensive and only lasts an hour of so at the moment before becoming quite useless.


UV lamps lack PAR, but more than this cause plant damage. This is because the spectrum is weighted to the blue end (to obtain UV) and the lumen output is low. So, we have a poor spectrum for plant growth, damaging wavelengths (UV) and not enough visible light. 


Plants need access to enough energy within light to be able to replace at least as many cells that die off each day naturally or are damaged. If they can produce more cells per day than that, then they can either grow or reproduce. As cell production is linked in directly to quantity of light within the correct spectrum, we have to provide that likewise in captivity. 


As with all life we are governed by certain laws, one of which states that, 'energy 'in' equates in full to the level of energy able to be displayed/used'


It is refreshing to read that you understand the importance of PAR. Of course PAR is only really effective if the % of PUR and lumen output are high enough. So many still confuse 'colour of light' with the spectrum contained within that projection of colour. This is why we still see so many single track and wide spaced Diode products and still see so many LED units that use Red and Blue diodes. This is due to a misunderstanding of plant growth and a total lack of knowledge about lighting in general. 


If you see single track, wide spaced and/or red and blue diodes, that product is at least 10 years out of date. The page below explains more about this. 


I explain this in detail in my latest book of course and a summery can be found within this page for JungleDawn https://www.arcadiareptile.com/jungledawn-ledbar/


The JungleDawn-LED Bar is the most powerful true flood 'Full-Spectrum' LED available. It uses the latest full-spectrum (400-700nm) High Output diodes to produce a vast quantity of light. Typically 138-141 lumens per watt, depending on the lamp length,.


This means that they have a PAR and Lumen output around 5x greater than our closest competitor and are sold, even at full price for around half the cost.


As I suggested earlier, the bar links to the T5 with the free link cable, so nice and neat and only one plug. 


Let me know if you want to know anything more


John


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## jonnyuk06 (Aug 11, 2019)

thanks for the info, i've ordered a shade dweller and the jungle dawn bars, just finding some plants now


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

let me know how you get on






jonnyuk06 said:


> thanks for the info, i've ordered a shade dweller and the jungle dawn bars, just finding some plants now


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