Equipment Review and Discussion :: ZILLA night black heat bulb

[CollinTrab]

Does anyone use a night light for added heat? It's winter right now and sometimes it is cool at night, so to keep things at a decent temp I use one. Zilla 75 watt night black heat bulb. Works fine and all that, been using it for a bit. Anyway I had something strange happen the other night. While I was sitting in bed watching some TV the bulb exploded! It was frightening, not the sound or the shock, the fact that shards of glass made their way into the tank! I took the turtles out immediately and cleaned the tank, removed all traces of glass. I have been trying to figure out what made the bulb do that. Some one told me it was the turtle splashing which caused water to hit the bulb and make it burst. I have never heard of this before, seems kinda false to me. I was thinking maybe a power surge? I have the bulbs running off of a multi adapter, so It's just strange to me. Any insight would help alot. Has anyone heard of the turtles splashing and making bulbs burst by water contact?

[rsour24]

ive heard of it before. and its kinda pointless ot have a bulb on at night. turtles wont bask at night. and if u have a water heater the water temp will be fine

[CollinTrab]

Maybe I should just keep it off. It doesn't give off any light, it's a black bulb. Just heat to keep the temp steady, so when I do turn the Day light on they don't have to wait for the tank to warm up.

[marisa]

I've used a red heat bulb at night with small hatchlings in rooms that were really cool in the winter. However, if you cover the tank at night (I use plexiglass) and leave a small portion uncovered for air circulation, much of the heat from the water (which would be heated with a submersible water heater) will be kept in the tank, which will keep the ambient air temp warmer ( and the heater won't have to work as hard) and have a similar effect as using a bulb.

And yes, water, even a small amount, splashed on a hot bulb will likely cause it to shatter.

[CollinTrab]

^ thank you, I'm doing this tonight. I didnt know that water would make the bulb burst like that. good to know

[ErikP]

Yep, while cleaning my tank one time I left the basking light on so I could see better, a drop of water fell onto the dome and apparently made it's way into the hole just beneath the ceramic fixture. POP! Clean up became a little more intense than planned. I've seen 2 different types of bulbs at pet stores that are supposed to be resistant to splashing, but not sure if they provide any type of UV

[steve]

They don't provide UVB. The only splash proof I've heard of is Turtle Tuff, but that's pretty much similar to halogen floodlights.

[ErikP]

That's what I assumed.