# uv, light and heat all in one bulbs? solar glo mercury/megaray???



## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

hi, i am thinking of gettin one of these: Exo Terra Solar Glo Mercury Vapour Lamp 160w - Reptile Equipment, Reptile Supplies, Livefood - Reptile Retail

i think there is also one called a megaray? anyway i was thinking of replacing my ceramic, spot and uv strip for one of these, but i have heard u cant use a thermostat with them, is this true?

it would be for my beardie who is in a 4x2 viv, so how would i know what temps it will put out? please help im so confused!


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## carpetman (Dec 24, 2008)

There are plenty of all in one lamps on the market, the most common at the moment are the solarglo, megaray and powersun! All work in exactly the same way in that as they warm up you get increased resistance in the filament, which is what gives the extreme bright light as the electric is having to work so hard to push through. When the bulb warms up slowly the resistance also increases slowly which means the power is able to get through, but if you swtich it off you have to allow the bulb to fully cool or it will not switch back on as the resistance is too high! For this reason they cannot be statted

I have never used them in a closed viv as small as yours but have used a 125w in a 6x2x3 and that gave a hot end temp of about 120. Even using these you need a secondry heat source as they only provide daytime time so you need to leave your ceramic on for night time!


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## Caz (May 24, 2007)

The problem with all these self ballasted mercury vapour bulbs is that they cannot be controlled by a thermostat!

Therefore unless you use them in an openned top viv (table) type set up there is always a risk of cooking your reptile as the heat will build up in the viv throughout the day. The viv temperature will also vary dependant on the room temperature.


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

I think they are too powerful for a 4ft viv unfortunately


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

ah shame, thanks for the advice. it would have been for my beardie, so dont need night heat, shes on a day/night stat that never comes on at night cos the house is warm, would be so good if we could put a dimmer stat on these, would make the viv look so much neater and also be a lot easier. oh well, il live hehe. thanks for the help.


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## jaf2212 (May 10, 2008)

If you are after a all in one bulb, have a look at the Megaray Metal Halide bulbs. I am using one in a 4ft viv with no issues, tho they can only be used for 8hrs a day


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

hmm il have a look, but ehy only 8 hours? that sorta defeats the point if id still need extra heat and light for the other 5 hours.


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## johne.ev (Sep 14, 2008)

Laura, lucky reptile also make one so i'm told. This comes in a 60 watt as well which would be ideal in that size viv. Must check it out myself.


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## jaf2212 (May 10, 2008)

johne.ev said:


> Laura, lucky reptile also make one so i'm told. This comes in a 60 watt as well which would be ideal in that size viv. Must check it out myself.


Avoid the Lucky Reptile one, as it is a spot lamp where are Mega Ray is a flood lamp, see the response I got from uvguide.



> My advice would be definitely not to get the Lucky Reptile Spot version of the halide, if it is for a bearded dragon. Spot lamps have very narrow beams, and this one is no exception; the useful UVB from the one I looked at was only a few inches wide. It might be useful for lighting a very small lizard, but a beardie would not fit inside the beam. I'd always recommend a flood lamp, just as for the basking lamp, because you want the biggest basking area possible.
> 
> As for the MegaRay one, it is a flood lamp and the basking distance is similar to the Lucky Reptile one - about 12 - 14 inches - but the lamp is larger, although still 70W, so the visible light is even brighter, and the UVB is quite a lot stronger; it's very much the same as their MegaRay mercury vapour lamp. You definitely need to mount it in a dome directly above the basking spot. Same possible hassle with the ballasts and wiring to start with; I think once these are more widely used these teething problems will sort themselves out.


I use a halogen spot for the other 5 hours a day, check the link in my sig for more details


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## LauraMartin (Apr 15, 2008)

aw well might as well stick with the ceramic and uv strip.


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## wiz (Feb 1, 2009)

this is the same prob i`ve got my new viv is 6f long x 2f high x 18" deep so not sure on uv or heat combo


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## hullreptilelover (Mar 4, 2006)

Aswell as not being able to use these on a stat, Another downside to using the combined bulbs is that if your reptile moves away from the heat source to cool down, its not going to get the full benefit from the uv. Thats why I prefer Uv strip lights and a seperate heat source....


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## jaf2212 (May 10, 2008)

wiz said:


> this is the same prob i`ve got my new viv is 6f long x 2f high x 18" deep so not sure on uv or heat combo


In that size viv a 100w Mega ray should be fine



hullreptilelover said:


> Aswell as not being able to use these on a stat, Another downside to using the combined bulbs is that if your reptile moves away from the heat source to cool down, its not going to get the full benefit from the uv. Thats why I prefer Uv strip lights and a seperate heat source....


 
They get more vu from the Mega ray than the tubes, which allows them to move away without causing any issues


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## Adam98150 (Jan 12, 2009)

LauraMartin said:


> ah shame, thanks for the advice. it would have been for my beardie, so dont need night heat, shes on a day/night stat that never comes on at night cos the house is warm, *would be so good if we could put a dimmer stat on these*, would make the viv look so much neater and also be a lot easier. oh well, il live hehe. thanks for the help.


What many people don't realise is that if you could connect one up to a dimming stat, when you turn it down it will output less UV. : victory:


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## fantapants (Jan 4, 2008)

wiz said:


> this is the same prob i`ve got my new viv is 6f long x 2f high x 18" deep so not sure on uv or heat combo


i have a viv thats 7x2x2 and thats heated perfectly with a 125w MVB. i only have mvbs and they are way superioir to tubes BUT i will be upgrading to metal halides this summer.


one solution to using a MVB in a closed viv is to fit a fan to basicaly exhasut the extra heat once it reaches a cetain temp. hadesdragon did a viv specificaly for this and there is a thread about it here somewhere.


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