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Gloomy Weather - New Lighting

Cindy

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Staff member
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Raining, clear sky, dark clouds gather, raining again, clear sky, dark clouds gather again, raining for the third time...that the cycle for December weather in Singapore.
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Worried that my VFTs and the only Sarracenia will go into sudden dormancy, I set up a shelf just for them.  
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4ft reflector cut to fit my 3ft rack
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E-ballast for a cooler shelf
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Makeshift PLL connectors
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Wired-up
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It works!
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The shelf and the plants.
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I must admit I got the idea from an aquarium forum where keepers DIY their own PL light set to grow aquatic plants.  
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The tubes are at 4550lm and 6500K each. Definitely a better deal than my original FL set with three 30W at 1900lm each.
 
Sweet! Nice and simple. I was actually going to make something like that, before I realised I already had enough shoplights to last me 2 more shelves.
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Very industrious. Your plants will love their supplemental light source.

I still have enough space on my growrack for a few more plants, but this topic reminds me that I should probably start thinking about building another.....and another....and another....and another
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very nice plants!
 
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I gota agree very nice setup and beautiful plants you have there..
 
Cindy, where did you get those shelves? I think I would be needing of of those as my collection slowly expands.
 
Wow very nice, do u think that;s enough though?

You know, u can tear off the blue plastic to reveal the reflectors... lol
 
You can see in the last picture that she did.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Gawd_oOo @ Dec. 13 2005,3:34)]You can see in the last picture that she did.
...after she attached the bulbs onto the relfectors?
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  • #10
oh sorry hehe,

How much was the total cost of the setup?
 
  • #11
wezx:
$110SGD. It is much cheaper to buy 4ft lights but I can't fit them in. The e-ballast alone cost $29SGD but it is so cool. Cool to touch and much cooler than the lights themselves. The ballast for 3ft or 4ft lights sold here is so hot that my wires got fried! Seriously, I would suggest you guys check out the ballast for your 3ft setup. Just to make sure there is no wire close to it.

Btw, I removed the blue plastic sheet before I attached the lights to the shelf.  
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And the plants love the lights. Especially the Sarracenia...even the N.campanulata is coming back to life!!  
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  • #12
Cindy, is the ballast 2 X 36W? Because if it is it shouldn't cost that much.

I think you can use that ballast for 4 foot bulbs as well as 3 foot bulbs (fluor).
 
  • #13
2 x 55W. Only for PL lights, not T8 florescent lights. I suppose e-ballasts for 3ft FL are cheaper but the lumens are way too low.

2x55w PLL - 9100 lumens
3x30W FL - 5700 lumens

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  • #14
Update on the lighting.
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The plants on the shelf are VFTs, Sarracenia, D. sessilifolia, D. adelae, Byblis liniflora, N. campanulata, P. moranensis "huahuapan", N. gracilis cuttings, N. belli cuttings and N. ventrata cuttings.
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The Sarracenia is placed in the middle as there is where the two tubes "overlap".

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  • #15
How did you fit the lights onto the IKEA shelves? I think mine is quite narrow. About 18" only. Can barely fit in 2' tubes.
 
  • #16
Great looking setup Cindy. Seems like your plants are happy
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