Combined or not combined?

[netty66]

Is it better to have a combined light or 2 seperate ones?
As i am still learning......our heating goes off over night so a torts light & heating would have to go off all together at night with a combined light right?
BUT does he/she still need heating? If so what alternatives are there?

[knottyedge]

it all depends on what breed of tort your getting/have to weather you will need a heat source at night and how cold your house gets, my spurs don't have a heat source for night the table just drops down to room temp but my house never drops below 16c
your main heat and uv source should be on for around 12 hours in the day a bit less when winding down for hibernation.
combined or separate - its really up to you there are benefits to both i personally have separate heat and uv sources but that's my personal choice as i feel the torties have a better chance of getting more uv exposure.
i have a 34" arcadia t5 so the tube is good for a year before needing to be changed

[JoesMum]

I use separates as it gives me more flexibility with times and temperatures... also if one fails they don't all fail (I have separate basking spot, ceramic and UVB)

[Barney's Mum]

i started out with seperate but didn't have good bulbs (gift tort table) so i changed to combined and have been really pleased with it. I like that i can use it with a lamp holder that suspends it over the table; adjustable and a good spread of light. they also last quite long, where as UV strip lights need replacing every six months or so (i believe).
That said now i have a larger table i also use a 2.0% uv strip to brighten it up a bit. So it depends i think the space you have to light / heat.
Hope that helps.

[knottyedge]

Originally Posted by Barney's Mum

i started out with seperate but didn't have good bulbs (gift tort table) so i changed to combined and have been really pleased with it. I like that i can use it with a lamp holder that suspends it over the table; adjustable and a good spread of light. they also last quite long, where as UV strip lights need replacing every six months or so (i believe).
That said now i have a larger table i also use a 2.0% uv strip to brighten it up a bit. So it depends i think the space you have to light / heat.
Hope that helps.

if you are using a t8 tube they need replacing every 6 months a Arcadia t5 tube will last a yr before needing to be changed

[Herpard]

I like to use separate UV and Heat

It also brightens up the table/ viv than a combined bulb does

the only downside is that you need to replace the uv tubes every 6 months (i like to replace every 3 and use the old uv tubes to grow weeds and flowers with)

[Catwoman63]

I have 3 tables with combined bulbs in each, i have had no problem with them, although when its warmer background temperature theres no way of controlling the heat, if you switch off the heat the light is off too, the only way to control the temperature really is to adjust the height of the bulb until the temperature is right X

[helsbells]

I use the Arcadia D3 combined bulbs in all my tortoise enclosures as i found when i used the separate uv and heat bulbs the tortoises would sit under the heat bulb and not the uv

[smallmum]

Ive got combined, the megaray one got it from kimbos

[knottyedge]

Originally Posted by helsbells

I use the Arcadia D3 combined bulbs in all my tortoise enclosures as i found when i used the separate uv and heat bulbs the tortoises would sit under the heat bulb and not the uv

if you were using a tube tho your tortoises don't need to be sat directly underneath the basking area to get the uv exposure so they were prob getting what they needed
my tube runs along just over half of my table so even when they are stomping around away from the basking area in theory they will still be getting some uv exposure