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Terrarium Lighting Help

bonsaibuddha

bonsaibuddha

So today i went down to my local hard ware store and bought a 4' long shop light and 2 halogen lights 40 watts each for it. I am wondering how i should set it above my terrarium. I am just worried about a fire hazard and all of that. Also the bulbs are bigger then the cassing around them so i cant just set that on top of the terrarium:-( , because the bulbs would be touching it directly. My parents also dont want me to hang it.
Any recommendation? ???
Thanks
 
Why can't you hang it? My light is prolly 50 pounds and it's fine. Or at least it feels that heavy.

You can put it on concrete block I guess. That's ugly, though. I don't know what you mean by casing. If you mean the plastic part that goes over the lamps and snaps on the metal housing, get rid of that all together.

It's Fluorescent by the way. You might want to consider getting another or taking it back and getting a 4 lamp model. You won't regret it.
 
So i the casing is the metla part that goes over the light. And i meent to say flourescent that is what i have not halogen. Is it bad to set the bulbs dircetly on something is my question?
 
I've sat lights on glass before but I don't recommend it as the plastic on either side can overheat. It count melt your rim, too. Probably not but you never know.
 
If you have a kid, swipe some of their legos.. make a few stacks to support each side of the light fixture. A lego can take a fair amount of heat before melting .. more than the light can put out. It also helps with keeping temp down .. seperates the heat from the tank by removing it directly from the lid.
 
Oh.. not sure if I made it clear or not, but the lego stacks go between the glass/plastic and the light bulb itself. It can definately stand up to the heat just fine - I use this setup in my ghetto rigged tank :-))
 
Ok thanks yeah i have legos and that is great info that they can stand the heat could i maybe se some picks of your ghetto rigged tank ???
 
I'm having difficulty posting pics at the moment, but I can probably paint a good mental picture..

18" cube cardboard box lined with 6 mil black plastic (for water tray). Plastic is held in place with some packing tape. The inside of the box is lined with foil and taped down.
Covering the box is a piece of plexiglass .. got it from an unused picture/frame.
Sitting on top of that is four 18" lights.. two daylight/two gro bulb (with a stack of about 3 legos between the light and plexiglass.
 
I agree with JLAP, you should use concrete blocks or...make a wood stand. It works for me!!! :)

- Jeff
 
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