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Full Spectrum Lighting

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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby scooter4n » Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:26 pm

you should get one for sure.
Replace bulb every 12 months and you are good to go.
you are welcome
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby lwis » Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:54 pm

I used to have an iguana and I used lights similar, if not exactly the same, for him. I only wish I had kept the light fixtures.
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby Andromeda » Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:01 am

I have a full spectrum light hanging over each of my birds' cages. They're under it for only a few hours a day if I'm home but longer if I am gone (in which case I set a timer for the lights).

I use FeatherBrite bulbs. They are specifically manufactured for birds and have a CRI of 91 and a color temperature of 5500K.

The light itself looks somewhat like this Image but is much wider. I bought it from Featherbrite a few years ago but I guess they no longer make the wide model.
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby lwis » Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:03 pm

The featherbrite lights sound good, but they are a bit too expensive for me at the moment.
I went to a pet store in my area to look at lights and there were sooooo many. It was a store that specializes in reptiles and fish so they had a lot. It was a little overwhelming. They didn't have any fixtures for the longer bulbs that didn't come with a fish tank so I looked a some of the compact florescent ones. I was still confused. There were ones that said tropical 5.0 with some amount of UVB output, but it didn't mention anything about Ks or CRI. Then there were other ones that had 2.0 on it and said 98 CRI and 6700k.
So I asked someone at the store what they might recommend, and the one girl who was said to 'know birds' recommended the tropical 5.0 one.
Here are the links to the two different lights I was looking at, perhaps someone can explain them to me:
2.0 - http://www.123aquatics.co.uk/products/reptile/uv-light/reptiglo2-0-879.aspx

5.0- http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11256837

They recommend that you combine the 2.0 with the 5.0....at least for reptiles, but I don't know why.

Then there is the zoomed avian sun light that also mentions nothing about CRI or anything.
http://www.shopping.com/Zoo-Med-Zoo-Med-Avian-Sun-5-0-Compact-Fluorescent-Lamp/info

I also still don't understand what Polarn was talking about
Polarn wrote:only thing i would check is it it is a T5 or T8 "bulb" the T8 model will always flicker for your bird, since they have a higher refresh rate than humans (frames per seconds that their able to see). Although I think it would be extremely weird to make and/or sell a T8model of birdlamp. and it does look like a T5, the difference easily said to see the different is that T8 is a lot thinner. But i do know, atleast here, you can't find fixtures etc for the T8 ones with high enough frequency. (this goes for any kind of the fixtures you have in the house btw, T5 bulbs with HF fixtures, to avoid the birds enviorment to be constantly flickering)

I don't think I have seen T5 or T8 on anything.... I just don't want a light to flicker for my bird.

I appreciate the help from everyone, but every time I get more information that seems like it will narrow down my choices, I end up getting more confused.

All I need is a light and a fixture that is:
-not going to flicker for my bird
-going to have enough UV , CRI or K or whatever they are suppose to have.
-not too expensive (I live in Canada so some online sites that have amazing deals don't ship to me :()

Thanks again!
lwis
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby cml » Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:49 pm

Ive started thinking about this recently.

I do have a fullspectrum light, an Arcadia bird lamp, which is on for most of the day in the birdroom/my office.

But I wonder, seeing energy bulbs are standard here and you cannot even get the regular ones anymore, does it always flicker in the other rooms for my feathered friends?

This is the kind Im reffering to, it should be readily available and recognisable to most of you:
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20198142/

Ive never noticed Stitch being uncomfortable, infact he's acting just the same, regardless if the bird lamp is in the room or not. I dont see any changes since before or after I got the lamp either.

Ive never actually thought of it before, and never heard it mentioned from anyone either. Is it just the light tubes that are too slow to update or is this a common problem?
Stitch (WFA) and Leroy (BWP)
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby lwis » Thu Mar 01, 2012 8:36 pm

From what I understand, cml, it is not the bulb, but the fixture that would make the light flicker. I think I read that some of the older and/or cheaper fixture tend to do this, but most of the newer higher quality fixtures do not. So if you have light fixtures that are newer and have an electric ballast (I think that is what it is called) instead of a magnetic one, they should not flicker. At least that is what I understand from what I have read.

Also, since my last post, I have read that you are not suppose to use the lights that are designed for reptiles because, though some are labelled to have an appropriate level of CRI (92), they also have 6700 k, which is too much...I think. 5500k is the most that the bulb is suppose to have or it will damage their eyes.
I don't know, it is all very confusing, and I think the reason for that is because we don't see like birds do and there is no way to understand what it would be like.
All I know is that my bird has spent most of his life under normal artificial indoor light, and today (one of the first sunny days since we got him) he freaked out when we took him into a room with sunshine! I can only imagine what he was seeing, but it was very obvious that things we a lot different to him, and from his reaction, it seemed like he has never looked at the world using the full potential of his vision before.
I hope to get him some full spectrum lights as soon as possible, but this is proving to be a more difficult feat than I had anticipated. There are tons of reptile lights in stores, but none that I could find for birds, and ordering online is such a pain when you live in Canada.
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby Polarn » Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:20 am

as a reply to the T8 vs T5, the T8 are the narrow tubethingie lightsaber lights :) and it is the fixtures that is the problem i think, however atleast over here there are NO fixtures with a frequency high enough for T8 lightsabers, so might be a limitation to the actual lights as well of them not being able to handle the frequenzy. T5 lightsabers are what you usually find in older fixtures / etc (diameter wise on the actual light) however older fixtures has to low frequency for birds (the frequency are usually stated on any fixture, not this does not include lightbuulds etc, but the straight tube lights) usually you can read the freq at the same place as it states what voltage, watts etc the fixture is for, if not on the outside of the fixture you can usually find it somewhere inside of it. however if you use bulbs I wouldnt worry since I don't think (I am not sure) that these ever flicker.
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby Polarn » Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:22 am

quick addition, over here you nowdays in newly built properties find the T8 (newer thinner tubes) under your kitchencabins to light up the workspace or in bathrooms above the mirror, but rarely as ceiling lightning. however far from all the fixtures you find when browsing aroudn the stores have high enough frequency...
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby Andromeda » Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:17 pm

lwis wrote:The featherbrite lights sound good, but they are a bit too expensive for me at the moment.

All I need is a light and a fixture that is:
-not going to flicker for my bird
-going to have enough UV , CRI or K or whatever they are suppose to have.
-not too expensive (I live in Canada so some online sites that have amazing deals don't ship to me :()

Thanks again!


I looked at the 2 bulbs you linked and they were around the same price as the FeatherBrite bulbs so I guess I'm confused when you say those are too expensive? Do you mean the fixtures? If so, you could buy your own swag light/floor lamp at a lower price and just buy the FeatherBrite bulb.

You don't want a reptile bulb for a bird.
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Re: Full Spectrum Lighting

Postby cml » Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:45 pm

Andromeda wrote:
lwis wrote:The featherbrite lights sound good, but they are a bit too expensive for me at the moment.

All I need is a light and a fixture that is:
-not going to flicker for my bird
-going to have enough UV , CRI or K or whatever they are suppose to have.
-not too expensive (I live in Canada so some online sites that have amazing deals don't ship to me :()

Thanks again!


I looked at the 2 bulbs you linked and they were around the same price as the FeatherBrite bulbs so I guess I'm confused when you say those are too expensive? Do you mean the fixtures? If so, you could buy your own swag light/floor lamp at a lower price and just buy the FeatherBrite bulb.

You don't want a reptile bulb for a bird.

I think you should be able to use a standard fixture, as long as its rather new as polarn said?
Stitch (WFA) and Leroy (BWP)
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