# LED Suggestion? TERRASKY by Exo Terra



## Jaekwong (Aug 14, 2021)

I'm new to the hobby but have experience with planted aquariums. Is there a recommendation for an LED light? I have an 18 x 18 x 24 Exo Terra Terrarium.


I saw under their new frogs and co line that Exo Terra now has a light called terrasky.

Any thoughts on that light (Exo Terra Terrasky). 

Or is there a better light that this community can suggest?

It would be cool if there is a light that can mimic weather.

Will have planted and may have dart frogs down the road


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Jaekwong said:


> I'm new to the hobby but have experience with planted aquariums. Is there a recommendation for an LED light? I have an 18 x 18 x 24 Exo Terra Terrarium.
> 
> 
> I saw under their new frogs and co line that Exo Terra now has a light called terrasky.
> ...


I use inexpensive nicrew aquarium lights for my terrariums. What do you mean by mimic weather? Flashing lights to mimic lightning is not going to be a pleasant experience for frogs.


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## Jaekwong (Aug 14, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> I use inexpensive nicrew aquarium lights for my terrariums. What do you mean by mimic weather? Flashing lights to mimic lightning is not going to be a pleasant experience for frogs.


Never thought of that. Yes lightening. Then I'll avoid that.

Thank you for suggesting Nicrew Aquarium lights. Do most lights for planted aquarium tanks work well for a terrarium @fishingguy12345 ?


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Jaekwong said:


> Never thought of that. Yes lightening. Then I'll avoid that.
> 
> Thank you for suggesting Nicrew Aquarium lights. Do most lights for planted aquarium tanks work well for a terrarium @fishingguy12345 ?


I don't know about "most" but the nicrew ones I use give me enough plant growth that I'm satisfied with them. I can't imagine that they're better than most other aquarium lights.


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## JasonE (Feb 7, 2011)

Jaekwong said:


> Never thought of that. Yes lightening. Then I'll avoid that.
> 
> Thank you for suggesting Nicrew Aquarium lights. Do most lights for planted aquarium tanks work well for a terrarium @fishingguy12345 ?


NiCrew are what I use. And no, not all LED lights are the same. I have a small 15" cube for plant growout and NiCrew didn't make a light small enough. The LED I have for it is very underwhelming.

I will say this for NiCrew - The sunrise/sunset timer is nice but it's problematic. If the power goes out, it does not hold the time in it's memory, just your settings. Which means when the power comes back on, the timer thinks it's midnight. So if you use the sunset timer, make sure you have a standard timer to use if you go on vacation.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

JasonE said:


> NiCrew are what I use. And no, not all LED lights are the same. I have a small 15" cube for plant growout and NiCrew didn't make a light small enough. The LED I have for it is very underwhelming.
> 
> I will say this for NiCrew - The sunrise/sunset timer is nice but it's problematic. If the power goes out, it does not hold the time in it's memory, just your settings. Which means when the power comes back on, the timer thinks it's midnight. So if you use the sunset timer, make sure you have a standard timer to use if you go on vacation.


Or a spouse at home to reset the timers if the power goes out while you're on vacation...


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## Liquidfluidity (Jun 1, 2021)

Fluval Plant 3.0. Incredibly programmable and super bright. They do produce some heat so mine are suspended. The Fluval Aquasky lights doo a good job also - ot quite as powerful and a smaller price tag.


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## MrBiggs (Oct 3, 2006)

I've owned a large number of lights over the years, a very large number. Today, every single tank I own has lighting from Spectral Designs. Can't recommend them enough.


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## Hoppy22 (Aug 11, 2021)

MrBiggs said:


> I've owned a large number of lights over the years, a very large number. Today, every single tank I own has lighting from Spectral Designs. Can't recommend them enough.


What is it that you like about them? Do get good plant growth without the plant going crazy?


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## MrBiggs (Oct 3, 2006)

Hoppy22 said:


> What is it that you like about them?


It looks phenomenal (lighting the tank, not the units themselves), runs cool, and plants grow extremely well. The customizable options are also nice, including options for additional spotlights for areas where you want more light. He also has a controller that allows driving up to 5 lights from one unit, including sunrise/sunset dimming and other options.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

+1 for the SD panels, for all the reasons mentioned. I have them on every one of my dart vivs save one (top-opening vivs are way too hard to light...).

They're short on many of the bells and whistles that are all the rage nowdays (party light mode, red-white-blue flashing to the beat of the national anthem on the fourth of July, that sort of novelty stuff), but when you have cool dart frogs you don't need bells and whistles to feel fancy.


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## MrBiggs (Oct 3, 2006)

Socratic Monologue said:


> +1 for the SD panels, for all the reasons mentioned. I have them on every one of my dart vivs save one (top-opening vivs are way too hard to light...).


All my tanks are top opening!


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

MrBiggs said:


> All my tanks are top opening!


My biggest issue with top openers and lighting is that the lighting panel can't be placed at the front of the viv and still have easy access from the front of the top. Perhaps this has something to do with how a person landscapes -- many people have all their hardscape and plants on a relatively sheer background, so lighting coming down from the center of the top of the viv works OK. 

I don't do backgrounds (for many reasons), and fill the viv with clutter as much as I can (you're welcome, frogs), so I position the light projecting down from the front so that it illuminates the surfaces that are being viewed, and so that plants grow/face in the direction of the viewer. 

I do have an SD panel on a top opening 18" cube plant only terrarium, and accessing it even to mist (I mist this one manually, as it isn't in my reptile room where the Mistkings are) is a pain since I have to shift the light panel back to pull up the hinged (fish-tank style) top.


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## Herpin Man (Apr 11, 2018)

fishingguy12345 said:


> Or a spouse at home to reset the timers if the power goes out while you're on vacation...


I agree. Leaving my spouse at home when I go on vacation has been working out pretty well for me.
She won’t go near the herp room to do anything for me, but still.


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## BG-frogger (11 mo ago)

MrBiggs said:


> I've owned a large number of lights over the years, a very large number. Today, every single tank I own has lighting from Spectral Designs. Can't recommend them enough.


hello pretty new here and reading as much information as I can tolerate. I have a 18x18x24 frog and co tank, which is 1/2 glass and 1/2 mesh. having a hard time imagining how to fit a SD on top of it, maybe two strips.

Sounds like that is the best lighting option out there, and amazing reviews. My backup is the nicecrew 24/7.



fishingguy12345 said:


> I use inexpensive nicrew aquarium lights for my terrariums. What do you mean by mimic weather? Flashing lights to mimic lightning is not going to be a pleasant experience for frogs.


I laughed at this. I’ll admit I picked up the terraskye initially because the mimic weather / lightning sounded badass. However, I’m not sure there are too many frogs are dancing away in Ibiza. Lol. So I returned it.


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