FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I am picking up my tank on Sunday from glasscages.com. They are going to be at a reptile show in White Plains, NY which is about 25 mins away from me. The tank size is 36'' long, 18'' wide, and 25'' high. I plan on putting the tank on a metal rack that I bought. Would (2) T5 Fl. light bulbs be good enough? Or maybe just (1) T5 Fl light bulb? I'm afraid that the lights might be a little high up away from the helis and cephs. What do you guys think?

Hi Zack,

I have the same size terrarium with cephs and helis and I use 2XT5 fls and they are still not coloring up very well. The only issue that I found is that it needs a fan as T5s emmits too much heat.

hb

hackerberry wrote:Hi Zack,

I have the same size terrarium with cephs and helis and I use 2XT5 fls and they are still not coloring up very well. The only issue that I found is that it needs a fan as T5s emmits too much heat.

hb

Oh so its to high up for plants? What size Helis and cephs do you have? I ordered a fan for my tank. I bought a tank a week ago 36'' long, 18'' wide, and 18'' high up. I was going to return it but now I might keep that one. I may put the helis and cephs in the smaller tank until they outgrow it with the 2 T5 fl lights.
Are you using the 3000k or 6500k fl lights?

Hello,

I have some full grown Cephs and Helis (Nutans and Minor) and they are around 7 inches from the light. I use the T5HO 65000k. They are doing really well with T5s but I've seen them color up nicely with LEDs.

Cheers!

hb

I want to chime in here as well because I'm putting together a terrarium for some Heliamphora. Initially I was planning using a 55 gallon aquarium, which would have had the dimensions 48"L x 12"W x 21"H. So I ordered a Sun Blaze 44 T5HO to use with that tank which has four T5HO bulbs. I chose two bulbs of each 6500K and 3000K.

Well, after I ordered the lighting, I decided to splurge and build myself a larger, custom sized terrarium. I ordered some glass to put together with the dimensions 50"L X 24"W X 20"H. Now I'm wondering if the 4 bulbs is going to be enough. Anyone have a guess? I'm almost wishing I'd have went with the 8 bulb fixture now. Hopefully I can make do with the 4 bulbs.

Hi Matt,

Those T5HOs should be enough for your setup. They are really bright!

hb

hackerberry wrote:Hi Matt,

Those T5HOs should be enough for your setup. They are really bright!

hb

Awesome, thanks Jun! That puts my worries to rest a bit.

well I decided to do (4) T5 Fl light system(46'' long 12'' wide, 2 3/4'' high) for a 36'' long 18'' wide, 18 '' high tank. Now I hope thats not to strong? What do you guys think about that? I am picking it up friday at a local indoor greenhouse store. I am paying $165.00 which i think is a great price

Decisions decisions. I am sooo indecisive grrrrrr

Bouncing ideas off this forum is perfect for us indecisive folks Zack.

The T5's are going to run pretty warm, so if you can, make sure you've got glass between the lights and the plants, which will help disperse some of the heat.

That setup looks to be made for a 48" tank though. And hey, bigger tank, more plants. I think it would be fine for your purposes either way - you could stretch the lights out from the tank and have some non-terrarium plants under the lights as well though, which would make the extra 10" of light really worth it.

Veronis wrote:Bouncing ideas off this forum is perfect for us indecisive folks Zack.

The T5's are going to run pretty warm, so if you can, make sure you've got glass between the lights and the plants, which will help disperse some of the heat.

That setup looks to be made for a 48" tank though. And hey, bigger tank, more plants. I think it would be fine for your purposes either way - you could stretch the lights out from the tank and have some non-terrarium plants under the lights as well though, which would make the extra 10" of light really worth it.

Thanks Veronis,
I bought a 1/4 inch thick glass today from a glass shop. I left about 3 inches open from the back so the glass measure 36'' long by 15'' wide. The tank is 36'' long 18'' wide. I wanted to leave a gap in the back for the fan that i ordered. I just hope the gap is big enough.