Spot bulbs vrs ceramic heaters

[hotty]

Hi guys .....at the minute i use ordinary spot bulbs in my vivs, but i would like to change them over to ceramics. 3 of my vivs have 100 watt spot bulbs heating them with an under tank heater. If i was to change over to ceramic would i need to keep the watt the same or up it a bit to a higher watt... does ceramics give of the same heat as a spot bulb or less.

[darkdan99]

wattage is the power transferd, so one watt from any source is the same.

however, ceramic heaters hold more heat, so more ofthe power is transfers sucsessfully, so it will be a ittle more efficiant.

Basically use the same wattage but ensure that a thermostat is used because it will prob be a little bit better than the filement bulb

[baby05x]

dont he also need the bulb holder to go with it?

[darkdan99]

strictly speaking no. just a guard. as long as the currentfitting is capabe of handling the wattage, and heat resistant cable is used in the wireing. i like to use dome reflectors, with attached gaurds there are some on camzoo, that are good, and they are reasonably priced also.

[simonc]

I personaly only use ceramics on my snakes,i just dont like keeping them under perpetual light even if it is coloured.At higher wattages 150+ i would say they give a much more even spread of heat compared with a bulb of the same power,which i would tend to use more for a basking spot.