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lighting question

I have a open 55gal aquarium about 4 inches from a south facing sliding glass door, i also have a 42 watt 2800 lumens 6500k cfl about 8 inches from my nepenthes (they're small) and a 26 watt 1100 lumens 5000k cfl about 5-6 inches from my drosera's/vft (i have my other vfts outside, wanna see how this one does in the terra with the door letting a fair amount of sun in plus the suplemental artificial lighting. does this sound about right as far as lighting goes? they get a 15 hour photoperiod. (adding in the cfl's to the sun exposure they recieve). the temps are kept regulated by 2 small cpu fans, and live sphagnum layering the bottom of the tank to increase humidity and cool tank down even further at night. suggestions are well recieved thank you.

-Javier


EDIT: AW CRUD CAN SOMEONE MOVE THIS TO GENERAL PLEASE?
 
Everything sounds good. I would just not layer the bottom of the tank with sphagnum as it might cause mold/fungi growth.

Any pics of your set up?
 
the neps, 2 ventricosa, ventxspectabilis, and belliixtruncata.

P6040011-1.jpg


vft, capensis seedlings (cant see them cuz theyre in the covered pots). and just a pot of media.
<a href="http://s1024.photobucket.com/albums/y304/Jafvortex93/Olympus/?action=view&current=P6040009.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y304/Jafvortex93/Olympus/P6040009.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

picture of the whole area.
<a href="http://s1024.photobucket.com/albums/y304/Jafvortex93/Olympus/?action=view&current=P6040013.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y304/Jafvortex93/Olympus/P6040013.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


overhead view.
P6040012.jpg
 
Yeah thats a fair amount of light to throw on the plants, trust me you would have been fine even without the reflective stuff on it. My plants stayed rather squat and produce their leaf nodes really close together unless I back the light away and let them begin to vine out.

On the 26 watt bulb, if you have another one laying around, or even a warm white bulb which would be pretty beneficial for coloring and growth as well, you should head to the hardware store (which you seem to be pretty familiar with lol), and pick up a y-socket so you can double up on bulbs. Those cheap dish reflectors don't seem to do much for me, so I just doubled my smaller CFL bulb and I didn't have to buy another lamp.

This is actually a very cost and energy efficient setup, good work man!

The Spectibilis x Ventricosa is going to surprise you with how fast it grows. It's pretty ridiculous how fast some of these hybrids grow. It's a very sturdy plant as well, mine became rootbound in the pot I received it in back in March.
 
I would just not layer the bottom of the tank with sphagnum as it might cause mold/fungi growth.
I like the LFS-on-the-bottom approach & have been using it in multiple tanks for years. It's also where my D. prolifera grows best ... :-O What fungal issues have you seen?
 
okay so get a y socket and use the spare 26 watt bulb and double that one up, gotcha. im glad that you guys have responded, been concerned whether or not im doing things right (didnt cost very much), seeing everyone elses setups i was like...eek. and the wood pillars are attached to a peice of plexiglass thats below the sphagnum so i can just lift everything out, the light with the plants as well. so i dont have to take them out one by one when im watering. the reason for having the sphag is cuz i love the way it looks and if it grows even better cuz i had rocks originally and it made a scratching sound whenever i moved any plant and it annoyed the hell outta me.

any more suggestions are welcomed.

-Javier

---------- Post added at 01:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:10 PM ----------

I like the LFS-on-the-bottom approach & have been using it in multiple tanks for years. It's also where my D. prolifera grows best ... :-O What fungal issues have you seen?


i have not seen any issues. in my old tank i did start seeing algae but i just picked off chunks that had it and tossed it. (i had the sphag submerged in water :nono:)
 
wow that looks pretty great and i like the color on ur pitchers and u vfts, very nice! :-O
 
That's why they don't belong in a terrarium.
 
  • #10
That's why they don't belong in a terrarium.


yea i know i have the other 2 i have outside, divded one of them and wanted to see what the division would do inside, how it would grow and such. ive taken alot of peoples input on leaving them outside and i have but figured i wanna see for myself how they do. thanks for the input tho timmy.
 
  • #12
lmfao mine color up better inside but they dont grow as well as they do outside.
 
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