Night time viewing?

[Bryan]

RED lights for night time viewing;

I take it that the RED spectrum required can be achieved by any means?... ie. coloured glass globes, or filters (tinted lens), can be used to get RED light for this purpose... but are they all equally as effective?

The reason I ask, is that I want light for night time viewing, but do not want added heat...
I like the look of the ESU MINI-REPTILE UV AQUALIGHT (9" x 5" x 2", with 2x 9 watt Desert 7% UVB lamps included), because the housing is an ideal size, and it only has low wattage lamps...
I'm thinking of getting one, removing one lamp, and fitting a red lens...

Does anyone see a problem with this?

[gecco]

I did the red light thing on my planted setups. I came to the conclusion that they could see the light better than I could. They actualy avoided the light and their eyes reacted to the red light. By the time I got enough red light were I could see anything there were heat issues. I now step the lights down , the main lights go off and everyone becomes active because they know it is feeding time I leave a 9 watt floresent 50/50 on untill I go to bed for viewing. This is on a 55 gallon tank the moonlight effect is cool .

[Bryan]

Thanks gecco... I'm surprised about your RED light findings, since what I've read suggests they can't see that light spectrum...

Anyone else have RED light experiences they'd like to share?

Heat is my big concern with any lighting, since room temperature is plenty high enough as is... hence my liking the MINI AQUALIGHT, since it has those small 9watt fluro tubes... it shouldn't produce much heat, especially if I remove one tube... 9watts should be ample, considering fridge, oven, and microwave lights are around 15watts... those little fluro tubes are also used in some of the bathroom exhaust fans, so I think there should be ample light from one...

I have the tank placed away from external walls, and it gets no direct sunlight, although the ambient lighting is good... certainly comparable to being under a moderately dense tree canopy...

As the sun gets low, and it gets darker, he did start moving around, as would be expected...
At this point, we have no specific lighting for the tank... we keep the surrounding lights "off" so it's fairly dark in his tank of an evening, but as you can imagine, that makes it hard to see him... the only illumination is a hue from the TV, a computer monitor, and other small lights at the other end of the room (none of which shine directly on the tank)...

Once evening activity has commenced, do they continue their activity regardless of light level?, or will they tend to hide again if there is too much light?

[Hurley]

I do know our Cal King can see red light. She'll chase a red laser thinking it's food.

I use the typical red (night heat) bulb from the pet store. i bought a low watt bulb, BUT i dont hang it directly over the tank. It's hanging next to the tank for light. My tank temp range is from 75-82. This system seems to be working for me. In the winter if the temps drop, I'm going to just move the bulb over the tank. Don't know if this system will work for you, but I figured I'd put the idea out there...

[Bryan]

Well, I'm going to try the MINI AQUALIGHT with a RED lens, and see how it goes...

Right now, after dark, if the ambient light increases, our guy heads for the trees and climbs at least half way up... he wont come back down until the light is "off" again...

[ricky]

I keep the room completely dark at night, except what little moon, street light comes in through the window. Between 10p and 12a I go into the room and "flick" on the lights and watch them all scramble, it's hilarious, I give everyone thier soup and then check back in about half an hour to see who's eating. Most don't run away from thier food bowls to escape me.

[S.T.]

their soup? so do you mix it pretty thin?

[ricky]

Originally Posted by S.T.

their soup? so do you mix it pretty thin?

Bryan had posted a question about consistency earlier that I didn't reply to because Allen had already answered him, but yes I mix it as thin as I can without getting a film of water on the top, it took about a week of messing with it to find the consistency that I wanted, but now I just eyeball it, and it comes out right. I mix it thin so that it remains edible as long as possible and so that I can stretch my powder as far as possible. I don't offer anything else and they all eventually take to it, even the adult leachie I recently aquired, and I have no idea what he was eating prior to coming to me.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by ricky

I keep the room completely dark at night, except what little moon, street light comes in through the window. Between 10p and 12a I go into the room and "flick" on the lights and watch them all scramble, it's hilarious, I give everyone thier soup and then check back in about half an hour to see who's eating. Most don't run away from thier food bowls to escape me.

For our guy, the tank is dark except for a hue from indirect light sources from the other end of the room (like low level moonlight)... it is hard to see him, unless you're right there, peering in... he sees this and then stops what he's doing, standing still, until you move away... turn a light "on" and he's up a tree, hiding...

How do the rest of you view your cresties night time activity, without disturbing them?

And, yes, I have the consistency weighed off now... the 2:1 water to powder is the saturation limit... the powder will not take a drop more liquid, and it will sit on top... it takes 30min to an hr to fully gel, and after that, evaporation will slowly thicken it.