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newbie needs help lighting a 55 gallon
I'm new to terrariums but very experienced with orchids. I want to make a life-like setting using a 55 gallon aquarium or slightly larger, depending on what I can find on Craigslist or whatever. I'm not in a hurry and doing my research nightly. I'm pretty confidant on what I'd like to do and try but lighting seems to be my biggest hurdle understanding. Everyone talks formulas about lumens, watts, height, candles, etc ...but I'm having hard time with it for some reason. I'm going to be trying to keep higher light species that require higher Rh. But of course keep neat lower light plants under the shady places. I understand the theory since I am a reef keeper but I feel like such a novice(I am!) with my new project. I like the idea of LED's and see so many... but the lingo from florescent/MH to LED seems to confuse me.
I've seen a few websites like Fluence bio, beamswork, etc, and have no idea what the heck I need. These guys seem a little simpler but I have no idea if what they offer is sufficient. Custom LED lights for Vivariums, Terrariums and Aquariums – Spectral Designs ? any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jim |
I just bought a light set from Kurt at spectral designs for my new terrarium after I read all of the great reviews regarding his product (at dendroboard and here). I have seen many posts of plants grown with his lights. I obviously can’t comment first hand regarding how well my plants will grow haha (at least not yet) but the product looks fantastic and he is very responsive.
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Jim, there are just so many options for lighting, it's hard to know where to start, but I'd definitely stick with LEDs.
The depth of a 55 isn't that great, so unless the lights are elevated above the top, there won't be that much difference in intensity, top to bottom, making your combo of high- and low light plants tough. Zones with different lighting, maybe? |
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46" x 12" LED Light Strip Panel – Spectral Designs It might be great or it might be junk... I have no idea. 120watt? red and blue diodes? |
I grow mostly cattleyas exclusively under LEDs. Look at full spectrum daylight grow fixtures on amazon and click on accompanying images for each product to see umol/m2^s specs. Cattleyas do well at about 500-600.
Also, take a look at this conversion chart. It might be helpful to a reefer :) I am one, too https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/co...n-ppfd-to-lux/ |
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unfortunitly lots of lights seem to be rated umol/s like these https://www.amazon.com/Active-Grow-L.../dp/B07HJVV4Z7 ---------- Post added at 04:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:12 AM ---------- Quote:
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However, those guides offer the peak light level to which the plant be exposed, and NOT the light level it should be continuously under, as in when using artificial light. For that, those recommendation should be cut in half. |
natural sunlight is always best. If you can supplement that with lighting - that is your best option and you won't have to worry about lumens, lux or foot candles too much.
If you don't use any natural lighting you have to realize that no artificial lighting is as good yet. Whatever you do - avoid blue and red led's- they produce growth but it is stressed growth - deformed and from my research makes plants produce keikis ( can be seen as good or bad I suppose) I will list the lights I have used in the order of my preference (however not on orchids yet!): 1. full spectrum white light LED's 2. T5 fluorescent tubes 3. Ikea Vaxer LED Grow lights 4. High Pressure Sodium bulbs 5. Compact Fluoresents 7. Metal Halide bulbs 8. Red and Blue LED's One thing people rarely talk about when recommending these bulbs is the costs associated with them. I have listed HPS bulbs at nr 4 however they come in 250 watt models minimum so will use 250 watts of electricity. A full spectrum white light quantum board can be placed far far closer to the plants as they don't produce much heat compared to the hps. I find 50 watts of a good LED at a closer distance can outperform a 250 watt hps at further distance due to the heat which will use 5 times more elctricity in a year. The problem is the technology is so new I barely know what is actually in these light fixtures but there is a difference between a full spectrum led that emits all colours of the rainbow compared to just blue and red diodes which lack green yellow etc which have just recently been shown to be important for plant growth too. ---------- Post added at 02:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 PM ---------- Quote:
It looks like the wattage can be dialed down to find the perfect amount of light your plants will need. Go for it. ---------- Post added at 02:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 PM ---------- Quote:
CRI of 95 is very good, basically anything close to 100 will be as close to natural light as you can get as you can see from their charts and graphs. Can't see the price over in america, all you need to work out is whether you would prefer the 120 watt quantum board for $180 or get those amazon tubes which are the best quality light you could provide but I cannot see the price - since they are 22 watts - 6 of them would probably be a lot pricier than the board with added blue and red. Ah I found the price - 4 of them for $120 ?!? That is ridiculously cheap! I will have to look into trying to source them over here |
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[ ---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:45 PM ---------- Quote:
*first of all thank you for the reply. *wattage is something I need to look in to. watts/gallon watts/ sq. ft. etc * I understand CRI but still need to underatnd and hard to see umol/2^s on lots of sites....Ugg |
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Flowering pseudobulbs were grown under this light from start to finish, so I know it works for my needs. https://i937.photobucket.com/albums/...snf08izcl.jpeg |
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I literally would not worry about umol/2^s too much which is what I already mentioned.
All LED's these days are powerful enough to grow plants well, something that hasn't always been the case with artificial lighting in the past and exact calculations were needed. you can place the light as close or as far away as you want Attachment 139069 The only thing you need to be aware of when buying LED's is that some sellers will try to mislead you and tell you the amount of watts fitted to the unit - not the watts the unit pulls from the wall - which is usually half that. I can tell you the 300 watt unit on the last post draws 150 watts. Still good value. Won't have the same CRI value as the lights you were looking at but half the price per watt and decent lights - only reason I wouldn't get those units is because they have noisy fans to cool them |
Swim made a good point. Actual watts are important; "equivalent" watts is a useless parameter for plants.
Unlike him though, I wish all lamps had published PPF data, as that's what's truly important, as it represents a quantity of light, as well as a true spectrum. Those two, combined, tell almost the entire story. BBQ: Don't get sucked in by color temperature, as it's relatively meaningless in fluorescents and white LEDs, being a "corrected" or "correlated" color temperature - one that looks like that black body temperature to the human eye. Also, if you look at true published spectra for white LEDs, the "warmer" CCT's seem to have more far red in them, which is good for promoting flowering. Here is a great graph showing the relationship between the plants' relative light absorption of the spectrum, and how PAR and the human eye response (lumens) differ from that. http://firstrays.com/Pictures/LED/Ph...t-response.png |
Is there a good way to find out what the actual wattage use would be, as opposed to the "equivalent"?
This might sound odd, but I'd prefer an LED setup that produces heat. We tend to keep the house cooler in the winter, and the 400w HPS I have now does do a good job of keeping my terrarium warm enough. Maybe I want to look into a heating pad... |
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