# 36x18x36 Exo Terra 100 gallon Vivarium



## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

This is my viv which has been set up for about 5 months so far. This is a upgrade from a previous 18x18x24 exo terra. 

Habitants are two male Epipedobates anthonyi Santa Isabels and 2 mourning geckos (at the moment, eggs are in the tank). 









I have big dreams for this tank and I plan on taking some of my more common plants such as my fittonias out and other plants that I have more then 1 of for more rarer and cooler looking plants. 



















I’ve been on the hunt for new lighting and no matter how much I want to find a Evo quad led 36” it’s probably not gonna happen lol, does anyone know of lighting that would be able to penetrate 30” to the floor of my viv? 
(Preferably some budget friendly lighting not spectral design like many recommend) 

I’m not having to hard of a time but as I continue to add branches to the tank since it originally was built without the branches there is shade being created and I wanna make sure I can grow whatever I want at the bottom. 

THANK YOU & I hope you enjoyed my tank ! 


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## Eiffel70 (Aug 10, 2012)

I have the same viv and spectral designs reaches all the way to the bottom without a problem. Their lights aren’t badly priced. If you pm me, I may have some I am not using that I can sell.


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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

Eiffel70 said:


> I have the same viv and spectral designs reaches all the way to the bottom without a problem. Their lights aren’t badly priced. If you pm me, I may have some I am not using that I can sell.



I believe I just pm’d you lol I’m new here so not sure how things work, I don’t even know how to make a profile picture 


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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

Just swiped out the original exo terra lid for 1 solid price of glass I am using some pieces from the first cut glass which was off by 1/2”  oh well live and learn. 


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## minorhero (Apr 24, 2020)

Bmoli15 said:


> I’ve been on the hunt for new lighting and no matter how much I want to find a Evo quad led 36” it’s probably not gonna happen lol, does anyone know of lighting that would be able to penetrate 30” to the floor of my viv?
> (Preferably some budget friendly lighting not spectral design like many recommend)


Depends on what you exactly you want and how much you are willing to spend. When plants are concerned light is measured in PPFD/PAR. A PAR meter is then used to determine how much light is getting to any particular spot. In the aquarium hobby the general amount of ppfd is known for every plant so we can figure out exactly how much light we need. I am pretty new to the vivarium scene but folks do not seem to be using par/ppfd nearly as much or at all.

Generally speaking a row of led lights is going to provide better coverage then a spotlight type setup since there will be fewer shadows. In another thread someone was just pointing out though that shadows can be beneficial to certain animals, so while more light will likely be better for your plants, it may not be for your animals depending on the habits of those animals. 

The cheapest options I have seen for LED light bars with high light output are Beamswork DA FSPEC lights. You can buy them on amazon for around 40 dollars. They have a bluish tint to them though which most reddish plants won't care much for. To balance it out a shoplight at 4000k will bring back a lot of the reds you would be missing. This is the setup I have on one of my aquariums. For the amount of light it can put out (around 150 ppfd at 18") its hard to beat. Whether your plants will grow with that much light is a different story... and whether your animals will be happy with it.. another story.


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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

minorhero said:


> Bmoli15 said:
> 
> 
> > I’ve been on the hunt for new lighting and no matter how much I want to find a Evo quad led 36” it’s probably not gonna happen lol, does anyone know of lighting that would be able to penetrate 30” to the floor of my viv?
> ...


I just purchased a Beamworks EA 6500 cause it was pretty cheap and saw that it was growing high light freshwater plants on the reviews. I steered clear of the DA cause it was 10k and just wanted a plug and play solution. Not to sure if they have the same output. But I’ve had it on my tank for bout a week and it definitely is bright lol. 

I’m sort of giving into the thought of purchasing a spectral design just cause it has lights for anything you can think of but 300 is a large price for 2 panels for a 36x36. At least I’ll know I won’t have to be buying different lighting for quite some time or having to experiment with other lights.


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## minorhero (Apr 24, 2020)

Bmoli15 said:


> I just purchased a Beamworks EA 6500 cause it was pretty cheap and saw that it was growing high light freshwater plants on the reviews. I steered clear of the DA cause it was 10k and just wanted a plug and play solution. Not to sure if they have the same output. But I’ve had it on my tank for bout a week and it definitely is bright lol.
> 
> I’m sort of giving into the thought of purchasing a spectral design just cause it has lights for anything you can think of but 300 is a large price for 2 panels for a 36x36. At least I’ll know I won’t have to be buying different lighting for quite some time or having to experiment with other lights.


The EA is 2000 lumen while the DA is 5000 lumens. The blue light on the da are 10k but it also has red and green lights. I think the combined total was around 8k or just under. Still blue but not like saltwater reef blue.


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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

minorhero said:


> The EA is 2000 lumen while the DA is 5000 lumens. The blue light on the da are 10k but it also has red and green lights. I think the combined total was around 8k or just under. Still blue but not like saltwater reef blue.



The 36” is listed as 5000 lumens on amazon attached is a pic of its description










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## minorhero (Apr 24, 2020)

I think you are looking at a different version then what I see on amazon.

The EA: https://www.amazon.com/Beamswork-Ti...beamswork+ea+fspec&qid=1588541938&sr=8-3&th=1

The DA: https://www.amazon.com/Beamswork-FS...8542000&sprefix=beamswork,aps,145&sr=8-4&th=1


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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

minorhero said:


> I think you are looking at a different version then what I see on amazon.
> 
> The EA: https://www.amazon.com/Beamswork-Ti...beamswork+ea+fspec&qid=1588541938&sr=8-3&th=1
> 
> The DA: https://www.amazon.com/Beamswork-FS...8542000&sprefix=beamswork,aps,145&sr=8-4&th=1



I apologize, it was the DA 6500k lol


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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

So my lovely Santa Isabels have 2 new friends !








There is a adult and 1 of the new juveniles.








And here is the juveniles together. 

After adding them to the tank I fed everyone and they all seem happy very little aggression from the adults. If there is aggression there are plenty of hiding spots in the 100 gallon. Very happy to see how bold they already are!


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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

Seems my Neoregelia “edge of night” is about to bloom. A first time for me having a brom bloom. And a little up date on the juveniles I just added and they seem great and are eating! Looking to be a success hopefully I get a female out of one of these two.


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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

I have a big order coming in from NEHERP and apart of that is my first Marcgravia, marcgravia rectiflora. On their website it says that it can be grown as an epiphyte, is this true or is there a advantages to letting it grow from the substrate up? I also have some of there pre-processed live moss coming which is very exciting to start some moss growth in the tank. 

Here is a couple pics I snapped today as well 


























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## Bmoli15 (Apr 18, 2020)

Revamped my standing pool area by making a sort of stairs with slate that I broke up then super glued together.









This is what it looked like before. Don’t have a good shot of it since it was more of an eye sore. 










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