Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If this won't turn 'em red, nothing will

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Matt

, ok are those out of the might of america lights? How hot do they get?
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators
0.0.2 D. ventrimaculatus

Lights of America. They get pretty warm. I have elevated the hood about an inch off of the tank and the temp is about 77 towards the top. I will monitor for a while and see how it goes. I hope the heat is manageable because it looks damn good in there!!
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Matt

The lights are great, they are turning fireballs in my new brom tank red after 4 days! They are turning a really deep rep after only 4 days, and they are 7 inches from the light. I only have 1 over a 10g and a ampullacea x fireball that is on the side of the tank that doesnt get as much light as the others is also getting alot of red speckles.
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As of 1/16/04
1.2.3 Leucomelas (the 3 juveniles are the brightest orange I've seen there almost red, there not from my trio)
1.1.16 Green and Bronze Auratus
0.0.2 Imitators
0.0.1 Vents (more soon)
0.0.2 Nicaraguan Green and Black Auratus
0.0.3 Citronella Tincs
0.0.2 Powder Blue Tincs
0.0.2 Yellow Back Tincs
1.1.0 Surinam Cobalts (extremely soon)
0.0.3 Bastimentos Pumilio (on waiting list)
0.0.3 Red Pumilio (on waiting list)
0.0.4 Green Pumilio (on waiting list)

Let us know on the temps, as I am very interested in at least using one on a 15gal high.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators
0.0.2 D. ventrimaculatus

Yeah, I think one would suffice. I have 120 watts over my 50 gallon terrarium. Even that alone keeps my broms really red, and is a bit too bright for ideal growth of some of the plants I have in there.
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Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

Ok, I am running about 81 degrees with the hood 1 inch away...too warm for my comfort. I am going to put an 80mm fan in and run it at 7 volts. Also, this is with 2 lights. I don't think this would happen with 1 light. Also, I think 1 light would be bright enough....it's just that it is so short that towards either side of the tank the intensity would really go down. With only 1 light over a 15, I would place the light directly over my red brom.

Oh, my tillandsia is turning red after less than 1 day under the lights.
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Matt

Yeah they really work good, the fan should cool them down quite a bit.
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As of 1/16/04
1.2.3 Leucomelas (the 3 juveniles are the brightest orange I've seen there almost red, there not from my trio)
1.1.16 Green and Bronze Auratus
0.0.2 Imitators
0.0.1 Vents (more soon)
0.0.2 Nicaraguan Green and Black Auratus
0.0.3 Citronella Tincs
0.0.2 Powder Blue Tincs
0.0.2 Yellow Back Tincs
1.1.0 Surinam Cobalts (extremely soon)
0.0.3 Bastimentos Pumilio (on waiting list)
0.0.3 Red Pumilio (on waiting list)
0.0.4 Green Pumilio (on waiting list)

Got the fan in...looks and runs great. Crossed a wire on one of my ballasts while doin it though. Turned it on and fried it. 35 bucks down the toilet.
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Matt

Just run it back to home depot. Put all the pieces back together in the original housing, theyve never given me a problem...Serves em right for the 4 I had burn out on me!

I have cut it up so much that it would never pass.
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Matt

I have almost the same set up on my tank. after about 3 days my fireballs started going red again.

Hey Matt, just my personal suggestion, but Ive had better success rates mounting the ballast away from the lights. Seems LOA went with a cheaper ballast setup after a while, and the IC tends to overheat when near the bulb. Apparently, it cant deal with the heat produced. I burned out 4 of them, most failed after 2 weeks, and I havent had a burnout since I remote mounted the ballast. Just a thought.
Divegod

Thanks for the info. I will move the ballast to the outside of the hood
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Matt

I know its a compact flourescent, but where did you get it and what was it called there? I gather from the following comments that it came from lowes, but I've never seen anything like that, or maybe didnt know it was there. Can you please fill me in? I was just going to overdrive about 8 48" bulbs, but these might work better. My tank is about 3 foot deep. Thanks.

Matt Sorrells

The setup is made of two Lights of America worklights taken apart and wired together.
worklight

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Matt