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what light and where to get it?

Chomp

Oops
Can someone point me to a website with a good florescent light at an affordable price for a 10-gallon terra. My lights that I have now keep burning out the bulbs, so I'm gonna just go get a new one.
Thanx!
Chomp.
 
For a 10 gallon I'd probably just get one of those exo terra lights that hold two screw in compact FL. You can get them at petsmart and right now they have all that stuff on Pet Perks sale so it's cheap for the holidays.
 
Cool. there's a petsmart and a petco near me. I'll check it out.
Thanx!
Chomp.

---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 AM ----------

I got one at a hardware store. It uses 13 watts and gives out 880 Lumens. Is that a good light?
 
I dunno, 13 watts is pretty minimal. My desk lamps CFL puts out more light than that. I usually try to get as much light to the plants as I can. I was thinking that the Exo Terra fixture that holds two 26 watt daylight twisty bulbs would be a passable system for a 10 gallon.

Over my 37 gallon sliding front vivarium I am going to be using a 125 W horticultural CFL - the bulb is a gigantic 13" long twisty! lol
 
For a 10 gal, I'd probably go for the coil type compact flourescents rated at 6500K. I get them at the local "Farm and Fleet." Anything bigger than a 10 gal and I'd start thinking T5's or MH's, but that's just me.

Over my 50 gal, I have two 140W CFs with 2 MH's, for a total of 855 watts. :-O

-Hermes.
 
"Sweet Yowza Mcgowza!" (dig that Hermes) how do you keep the temps respectable?
 
Get rid of the aquarium, buy a 4 ft long shoplight from Home Depot with the highest Color Index rating. You'll have more space for plants then.

Fixture - $10? at most.
Tubes - $8-9? at most.
 
"Sweet Yowza Mcgowza!" (dig that Hermes) how do you keep the temps respectable?

I keep the lights at a respectable distance from the plants, and I don't have a sealed tank. If I keep the lights 24" from the top of the soil and at least 8" from the tips of the plants, I don't have any problems. The temp remains about 75 degrees. The only time I ever have a problem with heat is when the old lady who lives below us falls asleep and forgets to turn down her heat, and we come home to an apartment that is a sweltering 115 degrees. :censor:


Get rid of the aquarium, buy a 4 ft long shoplight from Home Depot with the highest Color Index rating. You'll have more space for plants then.

There are other good reasons to have a terrarium besides maintaining humidity for the plants. (1) If you have allergies to pollen or want to keep the humidity contained, it can be a good idea. Many allergy sufferers do better when the humidity is lower but still want plants around. (2) If you want to keep your plants separate from pets. I have a pet rabbit, and many of the plants I grow are toxic to bunnies. A terrarium keeps both plants and pets safe.

I myself have a 50 gal terrarium, specifically for these reasons.

-Hermes.
 
I also get a decent amount of direct sunlight because the terra is in a windowsill.
 
  • #10
Two things.
One, it's actually a 60 watt.
Two, I now have two of then on the terra.
 
  • #11
I've never seen a compact fluorescent bulb rated at 60 watts. I've seen 50 watt models, and 65 watt models, but not 60. Are you sure that it's not, "60 watt equivalent?" Often those bulbs are packaged and labeled with the wattage for an incandescent bulb of comparable brightness; the actual wattage is sometimes noted in a much less prominent location, because they want to consumer to know that even though it consumes less power than traditional bulbs, it's just as bright.
~Joe
 
  • #12
I have seen a sixty watt CF. It's..... large lol. We have one in our Linen closet still packaged. Don't know what it's doing there....

They even make over 100 watt CF's. THOSE are big.
 
  • #13
Large twisty CFLs? I've got em!

Here's my 125W prebuilt Hydrofarm fixture that I will use over my 37 gallon vivarium, the reflector exactly fits the lid dimensions minus my air gap
125cflprebuilt.jpg


Here's the 125 Hydrofarm retro I was going to use but the socket extended beyond the end of my vivarium but fear not it won't go to waste!
125cflretro.jpg


here are other good reasons to have a terrarium besides maintaining humidity for the plants. (1) If you have allergies to pollen or want to keep the humidity contained, it can be a good idea. Many allergy sufferers do better when the humidity is lower but still want plants around. (2) If you want to keep your plants separate from pets. I have a pet rabbit, and many of the plants I grow are toxic to bunnies. A terrarium keeps both plants and pets safe.
Say, I have been suffering from a sinus infection and puffy eyes pretty much ever since I started collecting succulents... They're not enclosed in a terrarium since they'll rot if they are but I have a huge shelf full of plants that are blooming year round (depending on species origin). Maybe that's my problem!
 
  • #14
Quote: I've never seen a compact fluorescent bulb rated at 60 watts. I've seen 50 watt models, and 65 watt models, but not 60. Are you sure that it's not, "60 watt equivalent?" Often those bulbs are packaged and labeled with the wattage for an incandescent bulb of comparable brightness; the actual wattage is sometimes noted in a much less prominent location, because they want to consumer to know that even though it consumes less power than traditional bulbs, it's just as bright.
~Joe :Quote
It's a compact florescent, it uses 13 watts but replaces a 60 watt; and is 860 Lumens. I now have a second one, just the same, except it has only 800 lumens.

---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 AM ----------

Sorry, the Quote didn't work.
 
  • #15
It's a compact florescent, it uses 13 watts but replaces a 60 watt; and is 860 Lumens. I now have a second one, just the same, except it has only 800 lumens.

Those might be a little underpowered. Do you have a Home Depot or Lowe's or another big hardware store you can go shopping at? You can often find 23 or 35 watt CFLs there - sometimes larger. Those would give you a lot more light, for obvious reasons. The 13 watt bulbs will suffice for the time being, but I'm not sure they'll be able to keep your plants happy in the long-term.
~Joe
 
  • #16
hey swords!!
I was just lookin at some products like your hydro farm. would you recommend? I'v got two metal dish lamps right now with just some daylight cfls in them. i was thinkin of upgrading to somthing like that to just hang over my little collection.
 
  • #18
DaJimmer,
The Hydrofarm fixtures are nice, the retro kit is way cheaper, that setup with the bulb was only $59 (including shipping) and the replacement bulb is $30-$40 depending where you get it. The prebuilt fully enclosed unit was I think either $80 or $120 - I can't remember. Same lamp and all but that's what you get when you buy prebuilt.

On the retro you just have to screw the socket to the rather crappy reflector. I'm gonna attach it to some angled metal flashing instead when I build my next vivarium, I'm not using that dinky reflector. Then you just have to attach it to the hanging hooks or attach it inside a lighting canopy (which is what I'm gonna do). They have a good reach of 24-36" if you have a deep tank there's not a lot of bulbs that are effective for distance. They're also nice cos they aren't hot. Even without a fan running the 37 Gal vivarium is only 81*F when the light in on all day. I'm sure in summer it will be a bit higher but I'm afraid of using HO T5s because of the heat issue.

Jimmy,
For any lamp buying I suggest scouring ebays Hydroponics listings which is where they stash the grow lights. Lots of good deals to be found there!
 
  • #19
Thanks swords, ive started my next terrarium its to be my first lowlander, so im considering lighting options first, It's going to be some what like the one you just finished, and the lighting will probably sit on top , I plan to display this one in the living room so I do want it to look nice.
I'm fairly crafty but not sure i can do the lighting build , a little shy of messing with wiring and such.
did you notice the fixture i liked from the ulr on my last post, has two bulbs included is that realy all that bad of a price, and no building.???
The bulbs included. are T5 10000k daylight, and an T5 Actinic bulb , ( what is actinic, and aren't these bulbs good for plants or terrariums?)
Maybe i'll give the retro fit build a try, could you do one of your nice demos, like the vivarium build you just finished for us here , that aren't as crafty as you?
:hail::hail::hail::hail::hail:
Thank You Swords for watching out for all of us here, its good to come here before starting new projects, your input is most helpful, I just ordered some of the e track you suggested, so im going to use the lowlander terr. for a few days , and re do my highlander front to sliding doors, with out the wide track at the top and bottom,,see ,
IMG_0693.JPG
.
it's hard to see in with that large track at the top and bottom , your way is much much better.:-D
 
  • #20
what is actinic, and aren't these bulbs good for plants or terrariums?

I've wondered that for the longest time. Apparently, they're lights on the high end of the spectrum (usually UV/blue sometimes down to green) that were originally used for photography. Actinic meant that the light could be used to expose photographic plates. These days it doesn't mean as much, because more sensitive films have been developed that will also expose under red or yellow light, but the name is still generally used for bulbs that are rich in high-frequency light. They're used by reef and aquatic plant enthusiasts because the light is good for penetrating water depth and includes a lot of UV, which is useful for coral and aquatics. Hooray for Wikipedia!
~Joe
 
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