20 gal. light?

peanuts1gang · Jul 18, 2006

sorry about this thread, but i was wondering what light fixture or how much lumens would take to light up a 20 gal. terrarium? thanks alot.

peanuts1gang · Jul 22, 2006

cmon anybody?

pingman · Jul 22, 2006

I think the recommendation for 20 gallon tank is a 4 tube fixture or the use of CFL's.
For my 20gal long tank i use a economy reptile hood which has 3 fixture for screw in bulbs.
I use compact flourescents in these 3 slots, totaling about 80 watts. I then surround the ENTIRE tank with mylar so that the light reflects all around the plants!
Hope that helps.

peanuts1gang · Jul 23, 2006

ok, thanks alot. i was thinking about using 2 40watt coolwhite, and 2 40watt daylight flourescent tubes. do you have a fan in the tank.?
where may i ask did you get mylar?

pingman · Jul 26, 2006

no, i don't have a fan, but do leave a crack for air. The tank does get quite warm from the heat of the lamps, about 90 degrees. But this is ok as i grow the D. petiolaris group. the mylar came from atwaterhydro.net at $22 a roll. Best price i could find online.
The plants were noticeably happier once i put the mylar up!
Hope this helps!

Cha · Aug 1, 2006

myliar is not aluminum paper?, or its same?, does anyting work to reflect light?

pingman · Aug 2, 2006

Mylar is a trade name for a reflective poly film. It has very good reflective properties, better than aluminum foil.
2mil thickness is best as 1ml is pretty flimsy and is hard to work with.
Peter.

Red G · Aug 3, 2006

I recommend that you should use FluoreX Fluorescent Flood Light from Lights of America. Grow all my D. Falconeri with these lights. These are very cheap and great grow light's.
http://www.yinyanghome.com/Products/LOA/9266c.html

pingman · Aug 3, 2006

Red G, the flood lamp looks interesting. Do you place these over aquarium tanks? Nice that they are daylight 6500K.
Do you have a pic of your setup?
Peter