Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was wodnering...what types and how much lighting do you use?

i have created and maintainded a natural viv. for mantellas in the past...great success with the frogs but not so much with some of the plants...

i have 1 6500k compact florecent that is brighter than thr sun!.... is that enough for a 35-45 gal tank...with lots of plants?

its a custom made corner tank....its about 24" tall at least 30 inches form front to back corner and about 36 inches at the widest part...a nice sized tank.

i was thining of putting lucs. in it. i wanted some nice bold frogs that i could see because my mantellas would hide a lot and i would rarely see them.

pwetty pwease!

Only my opinion and my experience.

From what I've heard and what I use is a Floirecent bulb fixture from Home depot. It specifies, use for aquarium and plants and have had great success with it. They are only like 15 dollars and they are about2 1/2 feet long.

Hope that helps a little

cresty

so just cheapy lights that can be used in aquarium fittings?

sounds reasonable enough.

anyone else?

i was looking at some online i saw some people used lights for/from marine tanks and what not...anyone here using those?

I am using a regular fluorescent aquarium light on top of the tank. It is part of the regular hood that I bought. Remember that fluorescent tubes need to be replaced about every six months, as the fluorescent light diminishes over time. You only need it for the plants, not the frogs.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

the plants needed certain amount of lumens to grow....which could easilty be simulated with compact flours.

am i wrong?

thanks fr teh reminder about teh frogs though...i forgot they dont specifically require full spectru,m lighting...but woudlnt it benifit them the same? esspecially if it was filtered light by teh plants?

-slappy

I use the compact fluorescents on a couple of my tanks and the hoods with fluorescent tubes in the "sun light/plant" spectrum for others. Both work for most tropical foliage plants. If you're trying to bloom orchids etc., you have to be a bit more particular about the spectrum and light strength. Essentially, however, the frogs need to tell day from night, and many of mine seem more active in brighter (especially morning) light that also comes in through windows and skylights. What we mean by the frogs don't require extra artificial light is that they aren't going to get any sort of UV lighting from it, nor from natural sun-light, as any UV is filtered out by the glass anyway. This is one of the reasons it is essential to supplement the food with D3 along with the calcium.

The best over-all plant lighting arrangement I have is in a couple of tanks that are in a converted Park's grow-frame meant for starting seedlings and blooming house plants. The hoods are hung somewhat above the tanks so don't add much heat, and the hoods each contain 2 40W fluorescent "grow-lights." Then too, remember that the farther above the tank the fluorescents are suspended, the less actual light is reaching the plants. There is a distance vs. light received formula for this, which I have forgotten, except that it is sharply diminished with an increase in distance above the tank of as little as 6 inches.

Pflame: Thanks for reminding me that my fluorescent tubes are all very long overdue for changing. I'm ashamed to say that the ones over my paludarium are over 5 years old!! Both the aquarium plants (some of which bloom) and the terrestrial vines and ferns are still going gung-ho--Possibly this is because my house is very light from both east and west windows as well as glass doors on the first floor. The second floor is the same, with the addition of high sky lights. So in summer, I can turn off the lights entirely during hot days and the tanks are never very dark.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris

i had forgot that glass will fliter the UV rays...but i didnt forget about the sups.

so what i hear is that using my compact flour. and a 'grow' light of some kinds will be just fine?

sounds good to me!

my bud was goign to give me his metal hilides(sp?)
the ones use for reef tanks..i think he has about 4 of them that he used plus a bunch of compact flours. for his live planted tank.

I think the halide lamps are more popular with marine aquarium people than for darts, but they'd probably work. I have some on a couple of high strips to light my old carving room (now devoted to frogs,) but I don't use them for plant lighting as they are on the high ceiling. They are mostly what I switch on in case I have to go in there in the middle of the night without tripping and falling on my face, and they made a nice over-all light for general vision, when I was still doing my carving in there. Otherwise, I know little about them, except they are relatively efficient to operate.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris

out the tubes every six months. Maybe do it on July 1 and Jan. 1 of every year. Or do it when you swap out your smoke detector batteries? Do you have one of those fluorescent testers that I have heard about?
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

I don't have a fluorescent tester, but will remember to look for one next time I go to the "big city" where there is a Home Depot. I'm curious about just how much light is still being put out after 5 or more years!! While most of the vining plants, aquatic plants, etc. are still doing fine, the bromeliads have lost their color over time. I'll let everyone know how the 5 year old tubes test out if I can find a tester. I'm just surprised the tubes are still working at all, and not even flickering.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris