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Sunlight to fluorescent shop lights

Hi CPers,

My new Vfts (and drosera/sarr/pings) which were recently grown in sunlight are producing smaller and green traps. They are grown under racks, 3 inches away from fluorescent shoplights.

Can anyone identify my problem? Anyone had experience with this?

i posted the topic in this forum because im more concerned about my VFTs.

thanks in advanced!
 
VFT will normally produce larger traps if given direct sunlight. Smaller traps are produced probably due to lack of light
or
as in indication of dormancy- slow down in growth
 
It takes a lot of flourescent light to approach the results direct sunlight gives. How many tubes are you using? Are they new bulbs? How close are they to the plant growing points? How long are you running them? All these factor into how well the plants will grow under lights.
 
I use six or eight 4 foot fluorescent tubes, 3 or 4 --- 2 lamp fixtures per shelf. I have to crowd the lights very tightly to fit that many on one shelf.

shop_lights_cool_white.jpg
 
Blimin' %#$^&*!!! That's a huge setup. Joe, do you use electric or iron ballasts? The energy loss of iron ballasts compared to electrical is due to the heat the iron one gives of, righto?

Hmmm, so it might be better for huge setups...
 
<span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>He he, huge . . . there are ten shelves just like this one. A few with even more lamps.

These are a mixed lot. Some of the fixtures are quite vintage and have the old heavy iron ballast, but most have the smaller "electric" ballast, none are so old as to need separate starter capacitors though.

I would like to convert to VHO fixtures and lamps to see if they might perform even better, though I have few complaints as it is now.</span>
 
WOH!!!! Big lights!
 
This is identical to my own set up, and I now run some 40 twin bulb fixtures! Light is the single most important issue facing growers of CP. Even lights like these cannot hope to provide the same lumens as are to be found in natural sunlight. Even with 8 flourescent tubes kept within 5 inches of the plant crowns, some etiolation is inevitable. I have yet to find a light source that will produce a completely typical specimen. They are always larger and looser than are to be found in habitat. Although HID lights do tend to produce more thrifty plants, the color of the plants is never correct (although the same may be said about flourescent grown specimens as well)., and the size seems more compact and smaller than plants found in habitat. The overall ratios are more correct though: shorter petioles and scapes. But to my eye the plants are just smaller overall than plants from habitat. I believe the optimal growing tool is a greenhouse, but the available sun here is only 49% of what could be, so supplemental light is for sure needed here. Even in full sunlight here my plants do not keep the forms they have in habitat, so for me it is always a compromise - the best I can possibly give them is still not enough, a matter of great frustration to me.
 
pingman- you could get an electric VHO ballast and run NO tubes on it, that's what i do. they last half as long bust run at almost 3x the power.

i would use vho tubes, but i can't find the pin-types anywhere. (the type with 2 pins on each end that look identical to a no tube) i've thought of using VHO tubes used for marine aquariums, but i'm not sure if it would work better and i don't want to shell out 30 bucks per tube to experiment.
 
  • #10
Thanks everyone for the helpful replies,

PingMan your electrical bills must be HIGH!

Too bad i don't got natural sunlight
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this is me setup:

2 - double tube iron ballast setup with good reflectors on a 3ft x 12 inches shelf

lights2.sized.jpg





The plants are close to the lights
Lights1.sized.jpg



do they need some kind of adjusting to fluorescent or something?

I might be able to fit 1 more bulb there if i remove the reflectors

thx!
 
  • #11
don't remove the reflectors, that would be inneficiant (sp) and would decrease your light, so by adding more light, your taking away light.

while your add it, cover all 4 sides of your terrarium with mylar/alluminum foil.
 
  • #12
i've covered the sides with cheap shiny kitchen waterproof mats

JLAP where do you get your VHO ballasts? im thinking of rewiring my normal ones

thx
 
  • #13
i got it from marinedepot.com
i got it for around 170 dollars, but i got a reflector, all the wiring , the waterproof endcaps, with it. all i had to do was attatch it to the lid on my canopy and turn it on.

my only regret is not buying PC lights for my reef, because they don't make VHO lights for plants. however, i do run Normal Putput tubes on the VHO ballast. the last half as long, run warmer, but they put out 3x the power.
 
  • #14
anyone know about electronic ballasts? i know that they are lighter and not as hot as the iron ones. Do they increase the amount of light the bulb gives off?
 
  • #15
wexz: Nice collection! do you have anymore photos of the VFTs that you got from Melbourne? It will be great if you can post them up.
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  • #16
vistary: ill get some pics up soon on a separate board... I have about 6 new varieties including a strange 'long red fingers' which looks alot like cup trap, maybe we can exchange cuttings when my plants get healthier?

now im just trying to find out why the plants are growing worse in my brighter and neater set-up
 
  • #17
Wow what kind of houses do you all live in man...looks like you have to go into debt to pay off your electricity bills!
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smile_n_32.gif


What's a VHO?

Yeah, n what ways does a electric ballast benifit the setup? Is it only because it saves energy and gives off less heat...?

Jason
 
  • #18
VHO is Very High Output. a standard NO (normal output) tube that's 48 inches long is 40 watts, a 48 inch VHO tube is 110 watts. i have 4 VHO tubes so that's 440 watts and i'm thinking about adding 2 NO tubes to the back of my terrarium. Electronic ballasts are more efficiant and cooler AFIAK.
 
  • #19
vistary: i think ill post the pics when they get healthier, sorry to keep you waiting, right now they dont look so good
smile.gif
 
  • #20
Hi, I am new to the board, I have 4 sarrs, a vft, and a sundew now, all acquired in the last week. i have been reading this thread about lighting, and got to thinking...

I have a live coral reef aquarium that has been running for 4 years now. corals need intense light in order to thrive due to the symbiotic relationship with zooxanthelae(sp) that live inside them.
I have 2x65w power compact flourescents running on an electronic ballast. I also have an extra 55w setup that I recently replaced and was thinking about setting up an area to grow my cp's. Do you think it would be possible to grow healthy cp's under those lights? It seems to me that the corals would need more light because light doesn't penetrate water easily.
 
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