# Lighting Question



## Guest (Feb 12, 2005)

This is my very first attempt at setting up a vivarium so I tried to keep it simple the first time. I have three bromeliads in there and pillow moss covering the bottom of the tank. All of the bromeliads stay less 10 inches tall. I was hoping someone could tell me what kind of lighting would be appropriate for this set-up. Any specifics such as wattage and length of the bulbs would be greatly appreciated ? Thanks you for any help









-Scott wahlberg


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## Darks!de (Nov 16, 2004)

Hmm...well what size is the tank? I'm guessing it's a 20g...i think a 55w PC light would be great for that. Also you can go to home depot and get 2 T8 bulbs for that sized tank.

Luke

P.S. Why are there toes in the tank!? :lol:


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## Moe (Feb 15, 2004)

Id go with 36watt Compact Fluorescents.

M.N


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## Guest (Feb 12, 2005)

Thank you. I forgot to mention it is only a 10 gal tank. I figured i start small to make sure I got the hang of it before getting biiger. Thanks for the suggestions.
-sw


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I have two repti-sun 2.0 bulbs (t-8) over one of my tens, and the growth is fantastic, but the hood (homemade fixture) takes up most of the top of the tank (which doesn't bother me). A 36 watt cf would light the tank even more (bordering on overkill for a terrrarium), and be much more compact, but might heat the tank up a little more.


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## Guest (Feb 14, 2005)

Thanks for the suggestions. can these lights be purchased at a hardware store like home depot or lowes ? or should they be ordered ?
-scott


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

No, but most big hardware and department stores carry something usable, if you want these specific bulbs, pet shops with reptile supplies usually carry them.
look for bulbs with a color temperature between 5000 - 7000K, and the higher the CRI (color rendering index) the better. The reptisun t-8's (15 watts) that I mentioned (for some reason in my first post, when I mentioned the t-8's, the 8 got replaced with a 8) )have a CRI of 98, Home depot and menards carry similar "full specrum bulbs" with comparable specs.

If you want to try the CF's, you'll probably have to order them, though some more up to date aquarium stores carry them. If you're up for ordering, AH supply carrys great retro kits for these. (see the links page)


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## phyllomedusa (May 17, 2004)

Hi scott,
First off i will say the ahsupply lights are great but can be a bit expensive and i really dont like using them for smaller tanks(ten gallons especially). Secondly i will say that the lights are generally only for the plants.
You can use the screw in compact flourescents that you can get almost everywhere these days. The spiral type put out more light than the straight type compacts. i would avoid the ones that say they are cool white( i havent seen them in awhile though ). You wont probably need any that are over 20 watts. One thing you have to watch is that some of them(especially the straight tube compacts) are longer than standard clamp lamps. One neat trick is to take a standard incandescent aquarium lamp (the double 25 watt type that goes with a standard hood) unscrew the retaining nut on the switch, slide the switch and lamp sockets out and remove the reflector. You can then line the hood with tinfoil, spray paint the interior with silver paint(silver hubcap paint works great), or just leave it black. Put it back together(if you paint it make sure it cures first) and screw in the compact bulbs and voila you have an inexpensive compact flourescent hood. Another thing you can do is to cut out the sides of the hood and slide in small computer fans (which can be wired with a dimmer switch). The bulbs best suited run from 12 - 20 watts for smaller tanks as these put out the least amount of heat . I have seen them in packages for as little as 6 bulbs for 8-10 bucks at home depot and such. I am currently growing orchids ,bromeliads, mikanias and other plants under these lights. On one large tank( a double forty gallon breeder, one on top another) which runs two 44 watt compact flourescents currently has high light orchids bromeliads(including fireballs that are the deepest red i have ever seen) and such and i am only using the modified hood that i explained above with a simple clip on fan running on the hood( the simple $8 fans). The bulbs only cost me 5.99 locally and have lasted over 2 years.

Hope this helped,
Sean


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## Michelle (Sep 13, 2004)

shouldn't the light have UVB and A?


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## geckguy (Mar 8, 2004)

UVB and UVA isn't necessary but some people claim to have better results with eggfeeders when using UV light. However glass filters UVA and UVB out so you would need a large screen section to allow it to pass through, which would most likely cause a huge drop in humidity, or get solacryl which is a special UV passing acrlylic.


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

Nice foot, ha. 

Anyway, I would light the 10 gallon up with a clamp fixture from Home Depot (about $8). The bulb to put in it would be:

The brand is Commercial Electric. It is in blue packaging with "Daylight" written on the front left. There are other color packages, you want blue. The SKU# is 772-429. Model EDX)-18/19. 6500k, 120V, 60Hz, 203A and 19 Watts. It says on the package that 19Watts equals 75 watts. The 75 is bigger and more noticeable, which is why I pointed this out. It says it lasts 7 years. The bulb itself is white in color and is in spiral form.


I wrote this to someone else in a post, and to add the bulb is around $7. They put off a lot of light and are cheap.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

mydumname said:


> Nice foot, ha.
> 
> Anyway, I would light the 10 gallon up with a clamp fixture from Home Depot (about $8). The bulb to put in it would be:
> 
> ...


I have one of my tens set up just like that...same bulb and everything. It works, but I don't like it, the light isn't spread out enough. The plants directly under the light grow pretty well, but to the sides, it is pretty shady.
Kind of has a natural look, but I wish all of the plants in the tank would grow, instead of just survive.
Not to mention that I'm getting tired of looking at all the clamp lamps in my living room...But hey they are cheap, and they work!
Just my $0.02


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## Guest (Feb 14, 2005)

I think i'll go with this method then. Looks arent that important to me right now. I just want to make sure I can keep everything alive before I really start to worry about that. Thanks for the specifics.
-scott


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## Michelle (Sep 13, 2004)

LOL well actually all our frog tanks have screen tops and we just have heavy plastic on parts of the screen that we want covered up and have had no problems that way with humidity SOOOOOOOOO I guess our UVB and A is getting to them eh?!?!?
I know that I have read some think it helps with spindly leg too....


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## Darks!de (Nov 16, 2004)

You can also you solacryl acrylic which lets through UV light. I know a few froggers have been using it. The other option is to put the UV lights inside the tank.

Luke


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

Michelle said:


> LOL well actually all our frog tanks have screen tops and we just have heavy plastic on parts of the screen that we want covered up and have had no problems that way with humidity SOOOOOOOOO I guess our UVB and A is getting to them eh?!?!?
> I know that I have read some think it helps with spindly leg too....


Just remeber that screening blocks about 50% of the light and the UV output from bulbs is not very high to begin with. Plus, the heavy plastic may be blocking UV. It's hard to know without testing.


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

To have more light from one clamp, just hold it further from the tank so it spreads out, but what I would do is just get 2.


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## Michelle (Sep 13, 2004)

Just remeber that screening blocks about 50% of the light and the UV output from bulbs is not very high to begin with. Plus, the heavy plastic may be blocking UV. It's hard to know without testing.[/quote]

thanks for the heads up bbrock, yes the screen I'm sure will block some but the plastic isn't under the light so that part of it is fine  its only on the front and back parts of the screening


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## Darks!de (Nov 16, 2004)

Well if you have a single UV bulb, maybe you could hook it up _inside _the tank.

Luke


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

mydumname said:


> To have more light from one clamp, just hold it further from the tank so it spreads out, but what I would do is just get 2.


Just remember that the intensity of light follows Planck's law which says that the amount of energy striking a surface is reduced by the square of the distance from the source. This means that if you double the distance from a light bulb to a plant, you aren't getting half the light to the plant, you are getting only 1/4 as much light. So as you suggest, it is far better to add and addition bulb to get complete coverage than to back the source away to a greater distance.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

mydumname said:


> To have more light from one clamp, just hold it further from the tank so it spreads out, but what I would do is just get 2.


Well the tank is in my living room, and there is nothing to clamp it to. I suppose I could build legs on it, and make it uglier than it is already.
I could add another light, and that way, I would get to move two lights instead of one every time I feed or remove eggs, not to mention...40 watts for a ten? I'd just as soon spend another couple bucks and get a decent linear light source.

Thanks for sharing the ideas though


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

Well, I was just trying to help. I know the lights work, I've seen my neo's change colors. If you don't like the idea, don't use it, all I can say then. I have a rack setup now, so I stopped using them because I have T8 fixtures.


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