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  • #81
I have a ten-gallon terrarium (10''x20'') that I would like to light with florescent light tubes.

I'm new to all this. Where do I begin?
 
  • #82
well wolfn the size of area will be best suited with this bulb http://homeharvest.com/hydrofarmcompactfluorescents.htm
The compact flourescent bulbs are probably your best bet. That one there in particular has the k rating and lumens of nearly 8500 wich should be plenty for what you have.
 
  • #84
so lost...

I read through this entire thread and all it did was make me want to murder someone...... Even after all that, I still can't figure out what it is that is the best as far as fluorescent 4 foot tube lights is!!!

Is it daylight? 6500k? Cool white? Warm? Sunlight? a combo of such?

surely someone has the correct answer to this.

Currently I grow under 4 t8 tubes, 2 daylight, 1 cool white, 1 warm white and my plants seem like they are growing just fine, but I would love to improve the lighting if there was a straight answer in here!

:censor:

Lol I feel like I'm going nuts now....please someone clarify this horrible mess of info

thank you!!

Vinylsock
 
  • #85
ask 15 people get 15 answers padawan..... and yeah, the thread is full of "opinions"

improve the reflector is a universal answer.... but when it comes to bulb selection, it becomes very personal

I like 5000k :p
 
  • #86
I am getting a 100w led from ebay to light my terrarium. Anybody tried this?
 
  • #87
How far should the light be from my plants if I am going with an open air method in which a terrarium and lid is not used? I tried 7" briefly earlier under 4 t5 4 foot tubes, two 6500/3000k bulbs and that seemed to be too close... The lights are much hotter than I anticipated. :( Will a few feet from them suffice? You guys talk about getting the lights really close and wrapping foil around containers, but plants don't get light like that natively. It's all rather confusing.
 
  • #88
I got my light hung... I'm still not totally sure about it. The light is several feet above ny plants and yet I'm getting a probe reading of up to 83*. That seems kinda high... Also, I noticed a few plants singed but I don't think the lights necessarily did it since outside is much hotter than 80*.

Here's my current set up. It's not elaborate. The light is Hung from a curtain rod VIA two adjustable rope pulleys.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/716/imag0078hy.jpg/

The black bar at the top is my light. There's quite a bit if air between there.
 
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  • #89
I think you could bring the lights a little closer and just cool with a computer fan.
 
  • #90
Yeah, I have moved the lights down about 4 inches since that was posted. Also rearranged the plants some as well. I've gotten it at a point where it doesn't seem to exceed 83*, so I'm pretty happy with that. That's good enough to grow any Drosera I would want to grow. Also, seems the light is not burning the plants, so that's why I have brought it down. I guess its just over a foot above the plants now. Room humidity is holding above 50 and its past 5 pm.

Here's the recent: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/844/imag0080in.jpg/
 
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  • #91
I am getting a 100w led from ebay to light my terrarium. Anybody tried this?

I just bought a 240w blackstar ho led. Looks great. Kind of pricey but barly any heat at all and the color is nice with cp's having a lot of reds. They love the led.
 
  • #92
Posting so I don't lose track of this thread. Coming back to read it when I have more time! I'm particularly interested in lighting cues for flowering and other growth cycles, which has to do with more than just the photoperiod, but red light to blue light ratio as well. I'll be back!
 
  • #93
Ugh, well, I don't think my indoor idea is going to work. Seems my humidity is not high enough or its too hot- either way, I was forced to move several plants back outside. My Binata seem to be doing fine where they are, as does my capensis x spatulata. I guess I will give them a few more days and see. I have doubts at this point. Hope I didn't ruin my plants. I think they'll be okay, just lost a lot of dew. I guess I need a terrarium afterall, but I just simply cannot afford anything like that. :(

I'm bummed. Have all these nice plants and nowhere to grow them. I put then outside, and frogs jump on them, caterpillars and similar eat them, the wind and rain pounds them.... Sigh.
If only I had some sort of mesh box that was rain proof.
 
  • #94
My 100w led seems to be doing fine for my plants. I also recommend betta pellets to feed them.
And if you do go with led, you can probably get a 100w led setup (DIY) for around $80-$100, depending on how fast you want the shipping.
If you add a lens to the led (which I neglected to do) you could probably pull even more power out of it.
 
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  • #95
Question: how much light should I give a 20 gallon terrarium?
 
  • #96
As many fluorescent bulbs you can fit over it; 4-5 24" bulbs should do fine.
 
  • #99
Too low in wattage for both unless it is a very small growing area. White leds are bad for growth as they don't have much red at all, and the blue is slightly off spectrum.
Just go with T8 or CFL bulbs. I speak from experience.
 
  • #100
its a pretty small area but, ****, i just ordered the second bulb i mentioned. i'll report back later on how it performs on the plants....

edit to say: i have until recently been using three 26w 6500k daylight spectrum GE compact flourescents along with a 18" fluorescent "grolight". a little while ago i switched out one of the CFL for a 12w LED 5000K and switched the 18" grolight to a 6500k spectrum light and actually have noticed a decline in plant growth. i dont know from what though
 
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