General Care Discussion :: Question about UVB lighting

[jridge]

Hello everyone.....I have a quick question for those of you who might know.....I just bought a ReptiSun 10.0 UVA/UVB flourescent light.....It is very bright and covers the whole tank very well.......I have also added a hollow stump for my turt to climb around on.....He, of course, also has his basking platform (Turtle Dock)......

My question is this.....I know that UVB cannot penetrate glass, but can the UVB rays travel any appreciable distance underwater? He loves his stump, and when he chills out on it, he is about an inch underwater.....Does he get any appreciable UVB while basking there? For anyone that might get alarmed, he also spends plenty of time on his dock out of the water......I was just curious if he realizes any UVB benefit while in shallow water........

Thanks in advance for your insight......

[sonyj]

UVB rays will travel through water, but they diminish quite a bit with the more distance they go. As long as he is basking on his dock for the majority of basking time then chilling on the stump should be fine occasionally.

[marisa]

UVB rays from the sun (which are much stronger than from any bulb) can penetrate several inches down into the water. The UVB rays from a bulb are appreciably weaker, and I think he's getting very little benefit from them. How far away is the light from the stump? As long as he's under UVB lighting when he's on his dock, I wouldn't worry about what he's getting while he's on the stump. (How far away is the bulb from the dock?)

[jridge]

His UVB bulb is about 4" from the top of his dock........He basks there 4-5 hours a day......The top of his stump is about an inch below that, just under the water level......I don't have any issues with him, I was just curious if the UVB would penetrate through the water......Thanks