Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi... i'm currently constructing a tank but i have noticed that everyone is adament about using florescent lighting... is there a reason that incandescent lighting is generally not used with dart frog tanks? just wondering because i also keep rhacodactylus leachianus and chahoua in naturalistic vivaria and i use incandescent plant lights for them and it seems to work fine... anyway... i'll post pictures of the tank when i am done... then i'll probably have questions about what frogs to get (i'm setting the tank up and running it for a couple months first to see how the water works and how the plants take to it before i even think about adding frogs)... thanks!-paul

Hi Paul,

Mostly because of the heat produced. Dart frogs don't tolerate temperatures above the low 80's well and incandescent bulbs tend to heat up a sealed terrarium quickly. The heat that incandescent bulbs produce also tends to dry things out.
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Devin Edmonds
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com

The incandescents are also less efficient, for the reason mentioned above. A compact fluorescent puts out more light and less heat per Watt than an incandescent of the same Wattage, so they're more expensive to run.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

I meant to say the incandescents are more expensive.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

i'm a little surprised you can maintain healthy plant growth with incandescent but if u found a way to make it work more power to ya. personally, i always had much better luck with flourescents. flourescent light contains more of the blue and red wavelengths of light, which plants use for photosynthesis.

There are incandescents colored for plant growth, but I agree, the regular ones aren't as good, and none last as long as a fluorescent. When we were growing bedding plants in a greenhouse nursery many years ago, we used a combination of fluorescent and incandescent lighting for a full spectrum, but that was before there were more choices in bulbs and fluorescent tubes in different ranges.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

i use incandescents that are specially designed for plants and they seem to work fine... then again i also specially pick plants that require medium to low light since i have a lot of cover (branches and whatnot)within those tanks... i went out and got some compact flourescents today... i got the 13w bulbs but they don't seem all that bright... i'm using it with a standard light shroud/dome... do you think that will be sufficient for a 10 gallon or should i get something brighter... i'll post pics of my tank soon so you guys can have a look and critique it... thanks a lot-paul