Lighting for Exo-Tera 12x12x12

LAKingsGeek

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Anyone have suggestions for lighting an Exo-Tera 12x12x12 terrarium? I know Exo-Tera makes their own day/night light marketed toward gecko owners but I've heard it is horribly unreliable. Any T safe alternatives? I want to be able to turn on a light now and then to highlight the enclosure and the T's colors. A night light option would be great as well but not necessary.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Anyone have suggestions for lighting an Exo-Tera 12x12x12 terrarium? I know Exo-Tera makes their own day/night light marketed toward gecko owners but I've heard it is horribly unreliable. Any T safe alternatives? I want to be able to turn on a light now and then to highlight the enclosure and the T's colors. A night light option would be great as well but not necessary.
Where have you heard their light is bad? That's a disappointing read.

You could string up your own LEDs if you wanted.

Or look into this http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/fixtures/led/
 
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shining

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LEDs are the way to go, they come in a variety of colors and don't produce heat.
 

viper69

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I use this on my exo 45x45x45CM - http://www.onlinereptileshop.co.uk/...e-Large-Pt2336-7237.html#sthash.encEYdFj.dpbs

Works very well for both day and night viewing and gives off no heat :)
Good to know! wish the @LAKingsGeek would report back and let us know where s/he read/heard the negative comments.

@RMJ how long have you had it? The only part about the design I'm skeptical about, and why I haven't bought one, is the lamp seems to only fit onto their tanks via an adhesive bracket if I recall. That makes me think the adhesive will wear out.
 

shining

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Good to know! wish the @LAKingsGeek would report back and let us know where s/he read/heard the negative comments.

@RMJ how long have you had it? The only part about the design I'm skeptical about, and why I haven't bought one, is the lamp seems to only fit onto their tanks via an adhesive bracket if I recall. That makes me think the adhesive will wear out.
...and if that adhesive wears out, this is the answer.
http://www.alicedeeny.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/P1070478-rev.jpg
 

viper69

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It is a real shame, once the mounting point (bracket) has been attached to the back of the glass with the adhesive its hard to remove!

Its a great light so when I fitted mine it was a commitment but has a great effect :), ill try dig out a pic....
Have you wanted/needed to remove the mounting bracket?

I'd love to see a good night shot of it.
 

RMJ

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Have you wanted/needed to remove the mounting bracket?

I'd love to see a good night shot of it.
Luckily I haven't but I have checked how secure it is on several occasions and its fairly solid!, the light itself has a small almost 3.5mm plug to the power and you can detach this from the light itself when moving tank etc. The light un-clips also from the mounting bracket that is stuck to the back of the tank.

I can only find the one pic here when the viv housed a little corn snake. I will continue to search for more images of night/blue mode shots for you,

IMG_0315.JPG
 

viper69

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Thanks I was curious how bright the white light was as well. If you up a blue pic or take one, please post it back here. I've only seen these in person at shows w/out darkness of course.

Appreciate your opinions on this product as well. I may end up getting one in Sept.
 

RMJ

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Thanks I was curious how bright the white light was as well. If you up a blue pic or take one, please post it back here. I've only seen these in person at shows w/out darkness of course.

Appreciate your opinions on this product as well. I may end up getting one in Sept.
I would certainly recommend, they look great, fit well, and are practical. Especially with @shinings suggestion of new adhesive tape should you wish to move it to another display tank.

The blue light is not too bright but certainly enough not disrupt any night time behaviors in my opinion :). The light unit itself has quite a number of bright LEDS that all illuminate on the white setting and I would say approximatley 25% of them will illuminate the blue colour when selected.

There is no switch also just a touch sensitive area on the light unit itself (at the back of the arm) which I think is a neat 'touch' to the whole unit :D
 

LAKingsGeek

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Good to know! wish the @LAKingsGeek would report back and let us know where s/he read/heard the negative comments.

@RMJ how long have you had it? The only part about the design I'm skeptical about, and why I haven't bought one, is the lamp seems to only fit onto their tanks via an adhesive bracket if I recall. That makes me think the adhesive will wear out.
The Amazon reviews are pretty bad. Lots of people have complained that the light will randomly switch between the daylight and nightlight. It seems to be a pretty common problem. I don't want to spend around $25 on something that may very well stop working a few months after purchase.
 

RMJ

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The Amazon reviews are pretty bad. Lots of people have complained that the light will randomly switch between the daylight and nightlight. It seems to be a pretty common problem. I don't want to spend around $25 on something that may very well stop working a few months after purchase.
I have owned and used mine for about 2 years now and never had any problems, if the product was that faulty I am sure it wouldn't have made it past the quality control/user tests :)
 

viper69

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I have owned and used mine for about 2 years now and never had any problems, if the product was that faulty I am sure it wouldn't have made it past the quality control/user tests :)
Unless it was made by Volkswagon ;)
 

viper69

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I would certainly recommend, they look great, fit well, and are practical. Especially with @shinings suggestion of new adhesive tape should you wish to move it to another display tank.

The blue light is not too bright but certainly enough not disrupt any night time behaviors in my opinion :). The light unit itself has quite a number of bright LEDS that all illuminate on the white setting and I would say approximatley 25% of them will illuminate the blue colour when selected.

There is no switch also just a touch sensitive area on the light unit itself (at the back of the arm) which I think is a neat 'touch' to the whole unit :D
Thanks! The reason I was skeptical was I thought all the LEDS went blue. Thus possibly making it too bright.

I will check and see what ExoTerra's these will fit on.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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The Amazon reviews are pretty bad. Lots of people have complained that the light will randomly switch between the daylight and nightlight. It seems to be a pretty common problem. I don't want to spend around $25 on something that may very well stop working a few months after purchase.
I'll take a look, thanks. Sometimes negative reviews on a site are clustered around a certain time period, and then clear up. I usually attribute that to a bad production run. However when seemingly sporadic, then it's a roll of the dice.

I was checking out a 1 star review on Amazon. I can't believe this person wrote this

"This light is not strong enough for lizards. I purchased it for my crested gecko and the tank did not even hit 70 degrees after having it on for 4 hours. The design is great but the light needs to be way stronger"


I might end up going with something like this after reading the reviews

https://www.amazon.com/Logisys-LDXRM196C-Strip-Remote-Control/dp/B01BSO2K36
 
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Willuminati

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Jimmy rigged car LEDs from autozone/pep boys can make for some cool lighting with a bit of imagination :pigeon:
 

vespers

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I have owned and used mine for about 2 years now and never had any problems, if the product was that faulty I am sure it wouldn't have made it past the quality control/user tests :)
I have 2 of these as well, and have never experienced any such problems either.
 
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