Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am getting a 70 gallon high tank (i think)

its 30l by 30h by 18w inches. i need to know what will grow plants the best. I wont be haveing darts but i will set a tank up like a dart tank only with red eyed tree frog(their forum isn't active) anyways i want to get lots of plants but i need to know what lighting I need.

i looked at ah supply and wondered if a single 55 watt compact would work. would i need 2 36 watts? or 2 55 watts? what would work the best. I want the bormaliads with bright colors and other nice plants. my mom wants orchids. so help me out here.

also where is a good place to get info on different plants that grow in these rainforest tanks? I have been lokking at black jungle as i have heard they have good plants there.

For plants, I would also check www.peaceofthetropics.com and www.Ebay.com

I have one tank that has compact flourescents in it and it works great. The rest of my tanks all have shop lights or over counter lights. My broms have flowered under both types of lights. I'm not a big expert, but I think those expensive lights aren't necessary. Just go to Home Depot and buy some shop lights. One of my verts is 30 inches tall and the plants do fine with a shop light.
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Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

how many watts do you have over that tall tank?

i was going to use a few shop lights to make sure there is enough light though.

They are standard 4' shop lights so the bulbs are 40 watt. I like the daylight version of light since it makes things look nicer.
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Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

If you just have one tank I would go for the compacts. They make the tank look better plus gives your red-eye the UVA/UVB that it requires. Shoplight work but Compacts are tenfold much better in every way. I would go for 2-4 watts per gallon.

one shop light set on a timer, in order to turn on and off 2 hours before and after the compacts make for a nice effect. Add a misting system along with that and just try to shut the frog up.