UVB Light - its pros/ cons

[rcteem]

Here's a photo of my Redheads 'sunbathing'! I use a 10% UVb bulb once a week on all my vivs now - the frogs know when they have had enough and leave after between 20 - 40mins. All my frogs come out and sunbathe - some do it quite sneakily too. The light is shone through the front glass doors of the vivs (all of which are Optiwhite low iron glass) and most frogs will come right to the front of the viv - around 6 inches from the bulb at first then slowly work their way back from ituntill they have had enough



I have definately seen a colouring up of some species (BriBri, Colon, whitefoot and redhead being the most noticable). I think there are benefits for the frogs, many which we probably don't have a clue about so will continue to use it.

Regards
Marcus

Thank you Marcus for posting this picture...didnt mean to steal your thunder but Ive been doing this on my tanks every other day for 20 min with a 5.0 buld... definitely brighter colors for sure!!!

[dendroworks]

Hey Chris,
no thunder to steal! The more keepers that experiment with UVb the more information will be available to the hobby.

Regards
Marcus

[Philsuma]

While not a true UVB experiment, I put a 65 watt compact flood light (powerful) on a temp tank with a Basti in it today and damn if the frog didn't become more active in the viv......maybe my imagination, of course.

[rcteem]

While not a true UVB experiment, I put a 65 watt compact flood light (powerful) on a temp tank with a Basti in it today and damn if the frog didn't become more active in the viv......maybe my imagination, of course.

Happy to hear you might be on to something...like Marcus stated...after 20-30 min they disappear back to their jungle...lol


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[Philsuma]

Well....the Basti is doing it's best impression of sunbathing on a brom. I wish I would have gotten a pic.

The 29 gallon vert is a temp tank / grow out tank and moderately planted. It used to have a small crappy "fishtank" blueish bulb and then I put the "monster flood light" on it. The frog may just be excited that it is recieving an upgrade but it sure as hell looks like it is basking - for at least 3 hours now...

Temps are high at the tank top due to the light and I used my temp gun to take readings...

Very Top right under light - 88-89F

Mid range / upper third - where the Basti is - 85-81F

Low level and under wood feature arch - ground zero - 78-75F

Interesting stuff....

[dendroworks]

The frog may just be excited that it is recieving an upgrade but it sure as hell looks like it is basking - for at least 3 hours now...

Poor thing - it's wishing it was UVb it was being 'bathed' in hence the hanging about for three hours! Give UVb a try Phil I'm sure you'll be an instant convert when you see the reaction from your frogs!

Regards
Marcus

[Philsuma]

Can you get a product and price info on your little spotlight setup ?

I went to a big custom glass store and asked for low Iron - Starfire type glass and they just looked at me funny.

....sort us out over here. heh

[rcteem]

$12 max for a camp dome light and $8 for a bulb...looking no more than $25 with tax

[Philsuma]

What about the glass ?

[rcteem]

What about the glass ?

Very few companies carry it...google it...that's what I did


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[rcteem]

I contacted some greenhouse companies


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[Azurel]

What about the glass ?

Ask for PPG Starphire glass......It is made by PPG that might help them understand what you want.

[Philsuma]

Ok...here's PPG's website....

http://www.ppg.com/corporate/ideascapes ... fault.aspx

They carry a lot of differently named products in the Starphire group. What is the exact type we are using?

[Philsuma]

whoa---PPG Glass company is in Cheswick Pa ? That's near Pittsburgh and only @ 3 hours from me, right now.

[dendroworks]

If I remember rightly Starphire glass does not allow good levels of UV through - the best I could find in the US was Borofloat glass http://psec.uchicago.edu/Papers/Schott_Borofloat.pdf so I would do searching and contacting the two companies to see which comes out on top.

Regards
Marcus

[Philsuma]

http://www.us.schott.com/borofloat/english/index.html

Home Tech
SCHOTT North America, Inc.
5530 Shepherdsville Road
Louisville, KY 40228
USA


http://www.valleydesign.com/borofloat.htm

Valley Design East
Two Shaker Road, Bldg. E-001
Shirley, MA 01464
Phone: 978.425.3030
Fax: 978.425.3031

Valley Design West
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: 831.420.0595
Fax: 831.420.0592

Some prices per square foot:

http://howardglassco.thomasnet.com/view ... at-glass-2

[ChrisK]

Starphire doesn't really let any UVB penetrate, float glasses like Borofloat are the only ones that will, and only at extremely thin thicknesses, Solacryl acrylic (used in tanning beds) will work but should be replaced every 2 years, otherwise screen (which also filters a lot out) should be used with or without saran wrap to hold in humidity - and on top of all this the UVB levels decrease tremendously inch by inch so they should be able to get within about 6 inches of most UVB bulbs to work...............

[dendroworks]

When researching the most effective way of providing UVb I quickly came to the conclusion that through the glass doors of the viv was the best option. Therefore all my viv doors are of 4mm Optiwhite glass.

I contacted Pilkington Glass R&D with a request for info on UVB pass through.

This is the info I got back from them and I thought it may be of interest to other members

Thank you for your enquiry.

Detailed below is the amount of UV passing through the glass:

4mm Optifloat™ 59%

6mm Optifloat™ 53%

4mm Optiwhite™ 83%

6mm Optiwhite™ 81%

Optifloat™ is our trade name for standard clear glass. Optiwhite™ is our trade name for low iron glass.

As you can see, the best product for your application, allowing the maximum amount of UV through, will be 4mm Optiwhite™. UV is measured in the range 280 - 380 nm in accordance with British Standards.

Hopefully this is of use to you.


Kind regards.

Pilkington Technical Advisory Service

Building Products UK

Tel:+44 (0)1744 692000

Fax+44 (0)1744 692880

E pilkington@respond.uk.com

Pilkington United Kingdom and Ireland


Hope this is of interest if anyone was considering using low iron glass in any future viv construction.

Regards
Marcus

[Tony]

UV is measured in the range 280 - 380 nm in accordance with British Standards.

Have you checked with a UVB meter to see how much UVB actually passes? The spectrum they measured includes UVB and UVA, and even within the UVB range (280 to 320 nm) it is only a portion (290-315nm) that is biologically active. It is very possible that the majority of the UV passed is in the useless (for D3 synthesis at least) upper range.

[dendroworks]

No I 've not checked - but now that you mention it, I will.

Regards
Marcus