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nepenthes terrarium

i have a venus fly trap and i am getting interested in nepenthes. i want to make a 20 gallon long lowland nepenthes terrarium. can lowlands live in low light? and what varities do you recommend for a newb? do low lands need a fan in the terrarium?

thanks in advance
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N. longifolia is known to grow in low light... I am in a hurry right now, so i'll add more once I hae mroe time, but if you want to do some research on it yourself try Malaysian Tropicals nepenthes catalogue...
 
Hello !!
Nepenthes rhombicaulis lives in full shade, and Nepenthes pilosa can live with low light level.These are highland so you have to give them cool temperatures at night (10-15 C ).
Also two lowlands: Nepenthes rafflesiana and Nepenthes ampullaria can take moderate shading.

Regards

rajah
 
how cool do high lands like it to be? would i be better off getting highlands since my room stays between 70-75 during the day and 70 at night. also what about the lighr requirments for highlands? my room has a northish facing window and it can be bright, especially if there is snow on the ground in the winter.
 
What are you planning on for lighting? Or can you describe more what you mean by low light?

The easiest lighting for a terrarium would be fluorescent. At least 2 tubes.. maybe 4 if the plants are relying mostly on the bulbs to grow. The only thing with fluorescent is they need to be fairly close to the plants (8 inches or so) and not the best for really tall set ups.
T
 
i have a venus fly trap and i am getting interested in nepenthes. i want to make a 20 gallon long lowland nepenthes terrarium. can lowlands live in low light? and what varities do you recommend for a newb? do low lands need a fan in the terrarium?

i am wanting to create a lowland nepenthes terrarium. the room i want to put it in has a north-ish facing window, so most of the times its bright indirect sun all day. but i dont know if i need to use artifical light too. also i want to know if there are compact varities that produce good size pitchers?
 
I would reccomend a growchamber for lowland Neps. I will be buliding one shortly for my Bicalcarata. But yes, your temps sound more for a lowlanderish environment rahter than highlander.
 
Deffinately lowland. The terrarium will run warmer than your room temps once lights etc are going. Yes you will need lights. A North facing window is not nearly enough. A small muffin fan would be good to help circulate air.

Tony
 
Perhaps a N. northiana or N. ampullaria? Both live under forest canopies and are lowland and lowlight plants. I've got mine living with some orchids under my 75 Gallon terrarium inside the cabinet/stand in a 10 G (soon to be a 20-25G) with two 20 Watt bulbs w reflector.

Good luck!
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  • #10
ok, thanks a 20 gallon long would be about 4 ft i think, so i would have to get a 4 ft flouresence light fixture? what about the light? just a regular white flouresence light bulbs?
 
  • #11
o yea one more thing. how does pexi-glass hold up to high humidity? bc i am going to use that as the lid.
 
  • #12
Regular cool white flurescents and perhaps substitute one light bulb socket with a growlight florescence. It helps.
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Also yes plexiglass is a very good lid.
 
  • #13
Would one desert strength reptile bulb work as well as two terrarium ones? it has twice the UV/b UV/a output... Pyro or Cephalotus88? I know ya'll are herpers, too...
 
  • #14
Desert strength? Youch! Sounds like a Nep cooker to me! If it is incandescent it generally will be unsuitable.
 
  • #15
Plants don't need uv a,b so I would not recommend the reptile bulb. The measure of how much light a bulb puts out is in Lumens. A single bulb will not put out more light than 2 of the same size and wattage. The spectrums may be different and one may put out twice the amount of the other in a specific wave length but the Total lumen output will not be much different. This is the important factor when trying to calculate if the plants have enough light.
Tony
 
  • #16
Yes, I know. But it's not a nep cooker, because it's a flouescent. I use it for my gecko, becase of the generally low heat it emits, so as not to interfere with her 102*F heat emitter
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I think it should, give me the specifications required, and I'll look at the company's in reptile magazine...
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  • #17
Let me try rewording this....

A fluorescent bulb of a certain size and length will only put out so many lumens. If a larger portion of the light is emitted in a wavelength that is not usable by a plant, a smaller portion of that total is usable by the plant compared to a bulb that puts out a larger % in the proper wavelength.

So in fact you will get more light the plants can utilize by simply using a cool white bulb instead.

Tony
 
  • #18
So a couple of cool white incandescents will work?
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  • #19
cool white fluorescent..

Despite Axel using incandescent for his terrarium (I still claim its the close proximity of the South window that is allowing the plants to grow well), incandescent is a poor choice for plants. They are hot and the bulk of the light output is not ideal for plant growth. If you have a screw in type fixture those compact fluorescent bulbs designed to work in and incandescent fixture would work also
Tony
 
  • #20
So if I had the proper fixture for an incandescent, it would work? How far away should it be/ what wattage is best?
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Thanks,
john
 
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