is this enough light

[Rymah]

i have two 27 watt CFL on a 10 gallon fish tank, i cant get anythign to big cause its all in my kitchen, i was thinking of getting an extra lamp and putt a 40 watt in it,

is 2x 27 wats good or should i add the 40 watt?

[vraev]

try it out man. I started growing my vfts with a single 13 watt lamp. But obviously, as I increased the light, the plants became better and better. Also remember that CFLs put out a lot of heat. JUst some food for thought.

[Rymah]

right now in my tank
its a constant 25C and 40-60% humid
if i put a lamp with a 40 wat beside the tank will that change stuff??

can you ever have 2 much light for theses guys??

[Rick Hillier]

Jan 13, 2009 9:31:42 GMT -5 Rymah said:

right now in my tank
its a constant 25C and 40-60% humid
if i put a lamp with a 40 wat beside the tank will that change stuff??

can you ever have 2 much light for theses guys??

The extra light would make more heat and possibly lower the relative humidity around your plants a bit, but not necessarily. The plants that you have love it fully exposed in full sun in nature, so I would recommend giving them as much as you practically can for best results.

[Rymah]

just so i can try to get the best for my guys
what is there prefered Temp and humidity im going at lunch to get some more lamps for them cause i want to have healty plants, i jsut find it hard to regulat Humidity/heat/light

[vraev]

There isn't a set of "temperature/humidity" requirements for Dionaea per se . I have seen ppl grow VFTs in arid deserts where temps can hit 100F + daily and have thriving plants. I have also seen ppl grow vfts at 60F and so also seen those grow them in high humidity tropical conditions. You just have to give it a go. I have like 3 light fixtures lying around useless due to trial and error.

[dvg]

Jan 13, 2009 11:12:44 GMT -5 vraev said:

There isn't a set of "temperature/humidity" requirements for Dionaea per se . I have seen ppl grow VFTs in arid deserts where temps can hit 100F + daily and have thriving plants. I have also seen ppl grow vfts at 60F and so also seen those grow them in high humidity tropical conditions. You just have to give it a go. I have like 3 light fixtures lying around useless due to trial and error.

Just curious V, but what fixtures did you end up not using and was that due to excess heat vs an inefficient light output? The bulk of my lights are 4' t8's and some 42w cfl's. I prefer the t8's because of the area they cover. The cfl's are good to brightly light up a small space or one special plant.

[Rymah]

if i can add a light that doesnt add alot of heat is it worth doing, is it possible to OVER due the lights?

[dvg]

Try to aim for bright light for your plants, especially the sun loving plants. Just so you don't pay too much power, your lights should have a good lumens output/watts used ratio. The more efficient the light, the better the ratio.(Higher the number, the better the efficiency)

[Rymah]

what is a good ratio? and would i find lumens on the box of the bulb??

[Rymah]

so i figured out i have about 3200 lumens in my 10 gallon tank, 1600 per 27 wat buld. is that good?

[sherkas]

For growing yes, for the harder to "red" plants no.


If I was you, I would just get a mega 45 watt bulb (6000+ lumans) and it will use less power then those 2 however the luman output is WAY better. (Walmart for $20 bucks I think)


If I had to redo my setup (I am) I would definately use some of those high end CFLs to for smaller "areas". If your going mass grow of rows then use some T12/t8/t5s. If your just doing a small tank like that, get a mega CFL and let those plants love you.

[Rymah]

so i just went and got a 4' t8 this weekend (i had no idea thye were that price i was expecting $100+) so now i have the t8 and 3x 40watt CFL's will that give them the light they need to turn red?

[prmills]

Try it out Lots of factors go into them turning red. If you find that they don't turn red enough for you with what you have, move them closer to the lights. I have baby vft's about 8" under 2 double T8 fixture and thier nice and red inside the traps and growing good. Some you have to have closer or in full sun to get the red your looking for.

[Rymah]

do you think it would be ok to remove the CFL's casue they are makeing it warmer in the tank and taking my humidity