Options for lighting

[schmiggle]

I'm currently planning a terrarium build converting what was formerly a home for a pet to a highland carnivorous plant terrarium. The terrarium is a cube with 18" sides, and I'm not sure what the best lighting solution is. I've been looking primarily at LEDs, because they're generally cooler than compact fluorescents and fluorescent tubes seem to be too long for the tank. The best solutions I've found seem to be either corn lights or strip lights. However, strip lights seem like they would be very inefficient at lighting the sides of the tank without it being prohibitively expensive, and corn lights seem like they would have trouble because they would lose much of their light because it would be necessary to put it sideways to get the most out of it. Alternatively, they could be placed in a corner with reflective material, but that would both make it hard to get plants close enough and make overheating likely. Are there other solutions I'm missing? Are either of those I suggested good?

 

[nimbulan]

I've really been liking LED strip lights recently, particularly the ones overviewed here. With a height of 18" though, I think no matter what type of light you go with you'll want reflective material around the sides of the enclosure to prevent light loss.

 

[elgecko]

I've changed almost all my lights from fluorescent to LED.
What I've been using is Current USA LEDs.
It's over a year now using them and I'm happy with the results.

 

[schmiggle]

That post by Naoki was quite helpful, thank you! I have a few questions about it. How close can I put the led's to each other and not overheat them? How important is the heat-sink, and how important is the reflector component of it (as opposed to side reflectance, which I plan on adding for sure). Given that led bars are inherently directional, do I need to add reflectance on the short side, or would doing so be pointless?
I'll look into current led as well. Thank you both for your help.

 

[nimbulan]

I don't think proximity really matters with the LED strips. The diodes are spaced out enough that it's never a problem. Using a heatsink anyway will improve efficiency somewhat. I just use the c-channels like he does and don't see a need to try to add reflectors to the end of the strips.