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HCI, HQI or HQL for water turtles?

 

For the lighting of our animals we use exclusively lamps of the type HCI and HQI.

 

HQI

HQI burners use the principle of the mercury steaming discharge. They deliver a very bright light with relatively little current consumption and they are suitable very well for the keeping of turtles. Small costs of electricity take comfort in the long run over the little higher initial costs. Besides the HQI is sufficient also as heat source, if it is positioned close enough over the sun place. Depending of the kind of the animals a temperature of up to 45°C should prevail there. These lamps have usually bilateral sockets, offered in the strengths 70, 150 and 250 Watts. The larger ones have only one base.

All these lamps must always be used with a protecting glass. The quartz flasks are at high pressure. They could burst e.g. by splash-water. Turtles beyond would be badly battered by the glass fragments!

 

HCI, HQI and HQL can be operated only with lamp ballast, which can produce the needed heavy current for the ignition. These lamps are on not brightly from the outset; first they must develop the pressure what lasts usually about 1-2 minutes. Besides, after switching it off, it needs a cooling phase before switching it on again.

 

HCI

The “Rolls Royce” beyond the glow lamps is the HCI burner. It is an advancement of the HQI. It is likewise mercury steam burned with HCI, but instead of quartz in a ceramic bulb. This permits a still higher burn temperature and the light becomes even brighter!

 

HQL

The HQL lamp works on a similar principle. This produces mainly UV light in the bolt head. This must be converted by a white coating inside a further glass bulb into visible light. It delivers fewer light and also less warmth than a HQI.

 

Closing words:

Finally, no artificial source of light can replace the natural sunlight. Why thus don't we keep all animal outside into the sun?

Quick explination:

The climate in our degrees of latitude is for as 90% of my animals completely too cold to keep them outside. Even if the warmest week in the high summer would be sufficient, the movement in a new environment would not be worth the stress to our animals!

 

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