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Warm vs Cool White LEDs

OldDetroit

OldDetroit

Addict
Anyone have any idea which would be better to use to light a viv? I'm not if one would be more harsh than the other on the snake's eyes. Or if one will make the colors look better. Any suggestion is more than welcome. Thank you.
 
Warm white is more like an incandescent bulb, with a color temp somewhere around 3000-3500 k I think. Cool white is probably closer to 4500k. Sunlight is about 5500k I think. This is what I remember, but I could be wrong. I used a cool white LED with my new viv. I like. :)
 
I don't know much about lights, but I would use one that omits the littlest amount of heat possible. Combined with your UTH, it could heat the tank up to dangerous levels.
 
LEDs produce very little heat. The difference between the warm and cool white is purely color. I was just wondering if there were any opinions on which would be more pleasant for the snake and/or make the colors pop a little more than the other.
 
I would say Cool LEDs, like was stated aboe 5k-6k color is closest to true sunlight so it would most likely show the colors of your snake the most true.
 
I do think the cool white makes the colors look better. I just installed the LED lights in my viv and they seem to work great. I cant wait to see it with some decorations in it. I have a total of about 13 watts of LED's to light the inside of a 48x21x28" high area, and it looks to be plenty.
 
What kind of lights did you use im curios? Over the next few months Im going to start to build a big viv and I am thinking about using LED lights so im looking around trying to find out what kind of LED lights I want to use.
 
They look like they would work well but Im hoping to find something cheeper. Im looking at lighting atleast 6 diffrent chambers. But I can see how those would work well.
 
You might try Outwater Plastics. They have a good selection of LED lighting. Led lighting is still pretty expensive, though. flourescents are much less money.
 
I will go look those up. I may just go with flourescents if they are still to expensive. If It was a smaller set up I wouldnt mind but My wife wants a water dragon and eventually I want more snakes haha, so I think the big viv Im wanting to make will be better suited for my needs and im looking to have atleast 6 chambers (possibly some other smaller ones for young snakes or lizards) for what I want which meens that alot of light I will put in.
 
Sourced from Wikipedia:

Blue hazard: There is a concern that blue LEDs and cool-white LEDs are now capable of exceeding safe limits of the so-called blue-light hazard as defined in eye safety specifications such as ANSI/IESNA RP-27.1–05: Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamp and Lamp Systems.

Blue Hazard:

Blue-light hazard is defined as the potential for a photochemical induced retinal injury resulting from radiation exposure at wavelengths primarily between 400 nm and 500 nm.[4] The mechanisms for photochemical induced retinal injury are caused by the absorption of light by photoreceptors in the eye. Under normal conditions when light hits a photoreceptor, the cell bleaches and becomes useless until it has recovered through a metabolic process called the visual cycle.[5][6] Absorption of blue light, however, has been shown to cause a reversal of the process where cells become unbleached and responsive again to light before it is ready. This greatly increases the potential for oxidative damage.[7] By this mechanism, some biological tissues such as skin, the lens of the eye, and in particular the retina may show irreversible changes induced by prolonged exposure to moderate levels of UV radiation and short-wavelength light.

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Remember that this is saying the LEDs are "now capable", this doesn't mean all LEDs, just probably the better quality ones. LEDs will usually have their spectral rating noted somewhere on the box.

This would have been studied in humans, and I'm sure reptiles are no different. And this is only a concern that is not entirely founded. But just so everyone is informed of what LEDs (only blue and white) have the potential for.

But really, everything these days can harm you in some way and usually only to a percentage of the population.
 
They are safe to use and the affects to your health are unfounded (to a degree). I had mentioned the Blue Hazard which only affects Blue LEDs and Cool-White LEDs (to do with blue wavelengths) but as for all the other colours (including warm-white), there are no known health issues.

The same goes for reptiles and other animals. And flourescent lighting and other forms of light have been giving out similar wavelengths for years. I was more emphasising that if you really are strict about the health of your reptile, then cool-white LEDs are probably best avoided.
 
I was planning to use LEDs in my viv, but the front windows are so big it lets in plenty of light and decided not to use any inside lighting.

Very interesting read Virides, thanks for sharing all that information :D
 
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