Lighting for small 18" terrarium

[PurplePitchers]

I found a supplier of 18 watt Philips cool daylight bulbs:

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/4377848/ar...w-e27-geni.html

Varun, do you think these are suitable?

[mobile]

I'm really struggling to find spectral graphs for any bulb mobile.

Here is a bulb I found: http://www.philips.co.uk/c/energy-saving-l...=specifications

What do you think?

Elliot

I found a supplier of 18 watt Philips cool daylight bulbs:

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/4377848/ar...w-e27-geni.html

Varun, do you think these are suitable?

Pixmania also stock the Tornado one from your first link: http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/4377852/ar...w-e27-torn.html

Edited August 27, 2010 by mobile

[PurplePitchers]

Pixmania also stock the Tornado one from your first link: http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/4377854/ar...w-e27-torn.html

This one is a "warm" bulb, aren't cool white ones better?

[mobile]

This one is a "warm" bulb, aren't cool white ones better?

Sorry, I've refreshed the link for the cool whites.

[vraev]

No. I personally wouldn't get warm white or cool white nils. As I said, these are 27watt Phillips daylight. If u cannot find it, I don't mind sending it to u.

[PurplePitchers]

No. I personally wouldn't get warm white or cool white nils. As I said, these are 27watt Phillips daylight. If u cannot find it, I don't mind sending it to u.

It states on the box that these ones are "cool daylight" not "cool white", is there a difference between cool daylight and daylight?

[mobile]

No. I personally wouldn't get warm white or cool white nils. As I said, these are 27watt Phillips daylight. If u cannot find it, I don't mind sending it to u.

We are on different voltages. Canada is 120Vac, Europe is 230Vac.

[PurplePitchers]

Can anyone suggest a fan for my terrarium?

[mobile]

Can anyone suggest a fan for my terrarium?

Now that one is easy. Get an 80mm PC case fan, which should cost you less than £2, and hook it up to a switchable plugtop DC mains adapter, such as THIS one or similar. That way you will be able to adjust the speed by varying the voltage. You won't want it running at full spead as you really only need a gentle breeze.

Edited August 28, 2010 by mobile

[PurplePitchers]

Now that one is easy. Get an 80mm PC case fan, which should cost you less than £2, and hook it up to a switchable plugtop DC mains adapter, such as THIS one or similar. That way you will be able to adjust the speed by varying the voltage. You won't want it running at full spead as you really only need a gentle breeze.

Sounds easy enough.

I found a couple of fans on ebay, is there a difference between 3 pin and 4 pin connectors or is this just a case of soldering the two together? Also, how should I position the fan within the terrarium?

Thanks for being such a great help.

Elliot

[mobile]

Sounds easy enough.

I found a couple of fans on ebay, is there a difference between 3 pin and 4 pin connectors or is this just a case of soldering the two together? Also, how should I position the fan within the terrarium?

Thanks for being such a great help.

Elliot

Either will do but the 4 pin one I got had a daisy chain of connectors so I cut off the female connector with its cables and attached it to the mains adapter. That left me with the female connector on the adapter and the male one remaining on the fan. That way the fan is easy to swap if it fails. Make sure the fan is a 12Vdc version.

[PurplePitchers]

Either will do but the 4 pin one I got had a daisy chain of connectors so I cut off the female connector with its cables and attached it to the mains adapter. That left me with the female connector on the adapter and the male one remaining on the fan. That way the fan is easy to swap if it fails. Make sure the fan is a 12Vdc version.

Thanks mobile, I ordered a fan off ebay and I already have an adapter. How should the fan be positioned in the terrarium?

[mobile]

If you mount it at the back, at the top, slightly pointing downwards then your plants will get an indirect breeze and the air hitting the inside of the front of the tank will help reduce condensation. I run my fan at approximately 6V but experiment to see what suits your setup best. As I said, you want to produce a light breeze, not a wind.

[vraev]

DIdn't know that the voltages differ from here to there. Very well....but...hmm...I don't recognize that :cool daylight bulbs. We have simply only one form of daylight bulbs and it says 6500K explicitly on the package.

the package sort of looks like this:

THis is the label from a tube light of the same "kind" of bulb

Something to look for.

Also...as I mentioned...try searching hard for 26 or more watt versions. In terms of lighting...more is always better.

[PurplePitchers]

DIdn't know that the voltages differ from here to there. Very well....but...hmm...I don't recognize that :cool daylight bulbs. We have simply only one form of daylight bulbs and it says 6500K explicitly on the package.

the package sort of looks like this:

THis is the label from a tube light of the same "kind" of bulb

Something to look for.

Also...as I mentioned...try searching hard for 26 or more watt versions. In terms of lighting...more is always better.

Thanks Varun, it states in this document (pg 19), that the 18w cool daylight bulbs are 6500k. I'm struggling to find a supplier of higher wattage bulbs, so as my tank is very small, do you think 2 18 watt bulbs will be sufficient?

Cheers

Elliot

Edited August 28, 2010 by ceph123

[vraev]

How low beneath the lights will the plants be? If I recall correctly, there seems to bea wonderful envirolight bulb available in UK at 125watt or something...so perhaps u can consider that if the height is too much. If the plants are like less than a 10 inches or so away...perhaps two of those bulbs might give you a decent result. Ofcourse remember you need to keep the temperatures in control too. So a fan blowing over the bulbs away out of the tank should do the job. :)

[PurplePitchers]

How low beneath the lights will the plants be? If I recall correctly, there seems to bea wonderful envirolight bulb available in UK at 125watt or something...so perhaps u can consider that if the height is too much. If the plants are like less than a 10 inches or so away...perhaps two of those bulbs might give you a decent result. Ofcourse remember you need to keep the temperatures in control too. So a fan blowing over the bulbs away out of the tank should do the job. :)

The height of the tank is only 10 inches, so the plants will probably be about 5 inches or less from the lights depending on pot size.

[vraev]

Then u might be able to pull off those red cephs. :)

[PurplePitchers]

Then u might be able to pull off those red cephs. :)

Great, thanks for all your help.

Elliot

[vraev]

No worries Elliot. Please let us know how it works out. Remember...you need to balance air circulation with the right level of moisture.

[Peabody]

You could consider BioGreen lamps which are designed for horticulture. They are available from Two Wests and Elliot so you could look on their website for some info. You can buy a lamp and reflector for £40 or just the lamp (which is ES fitting) for about £14. They have peaks in the Blue and Red parts of the spectrum and therefore have a funky purple glow. They are 15 Watts. You would have to get your hands on an ES socket on a lead - possibly available at a reptile/petshop.

[mobile]

You will need heat extraction if you use a 125W in a 18" terrarium, especially if the lamp contains the ballast, as they run quite hot.

[PurplePitchers]

You could consider BioGreen lamps which are designed for horticulture. They are available from Two Wests and Elliot so you could look on their website for some info. You can buy a lamp and reflector for £40 or just the lamp (which is ES fitting) for about £14. They have peaks in the Blue and Red parts of the spectrum and therefore have a funky purple glow. They are 15 Watts. You would have to get your hands on an ES socket on a lead - possibly available at a reptile/petshop.

It states on their website that these bulbs are "designed for use with the bio Green Lumino lighting system only".

[gardenofeden]

It states on their website that these bulbs are "designed for use with the bio Green Lumino lighting system only".

I would not worry about that. However, 15w is too low to provide adequate lighting. 50-80W is more the figure you should be looking at for a small tank. The biogreen light is supposed to be supplemental lighting.

the link you showed earlier looks OK, 2 of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25w-6400k-Blue-Spect...tsSeedsBulbs_JN

or

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/45w-Blue-Spectrum-64...tsSeedsBulbs_JN

anything in the region of 50W+ at around 6500K is worth a try.

But, my understanding as far as light levels go is that if the wattage/intensity is high enough, the spectrum itself is less important. Sure, plants use light more efficiently at certain wavelengths, but will also use light of a range of wavelengths across the light spectrum, just takes more of it to get the same results. I have used "normal household" fluorescents successfully for many years.

[PurplePitchers]

I would not worry about that. However, 15w is too low to provide adequate lighting. 50-80W is more the figure you should be looking at for a small tank. The biogreen light is supposed to be supplemental lighting.

the link you showed earlier looks OK, 2 of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25w-6400k-Blue-Spect...tsSeedsBulbs_JN

or

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/45w-Blue-Spectrum-64...tsSeedsBulbs_JN

anything in the region of 50W+ at around 6500K is worth a try.

But, my understanding as far as light levels go is that if the wattage/intensity is high enough, the spectrum itself is less important. Sure, plants use light more efficiently at certain wavelengths, but will also use light of a range of wavelengths across the light spectrum, just takes more of it to get the same results. I have used "normal household" fluorescents successfully for many years.

Thanks Stephen, what fitting should I use for the bulbs, I think the 25 watt bulbs are too large for this one.