Compact fluorescent lights

[roridula]

I usually grow CP in standard terraria under 4 foot shop lights. However I am setting up a custom hexagonal terrarium as a display case, and I will need to light this with smaller fixtures. This may be a time for me to explore compact fluorescent lighting, which I have heard about but not tried yet. Can anyone offer some advice?

[Clint]

Do you want real compact florescent (the kind with 4 pins) or do you want screw in energy savers? The CF's (energy savers) come in high wattages (60+ watts) but they are pretty big. The bad thing about CF's is that there's a lot of restrike. PC's are good but depending on how deep your terraria is they might not be the right choice.

[glider14]

i love mine. i use 2 100w(thats the output i think its 26watts) daylight bulbs for my 10gal terrarium. my plants are red and very beautiful!
good luck!
Alex

[vft guy in SJ]

Don't get hung up on wattage.. most of that is irrelevant to plants.

Look for "Daylight" or "Cool White" on the package. Avoid "Warm White" they tend to be redder and not as usefull for the plants.

Good luck,
Steve

[sundewmatt]

can people who are using these please post pics of the resulting plants?

[roridula]

I was thinking of "real compact fluorescents", not sure how many pins they have. I haven't heard about using the "incandescent bulb substitutes" - the CFs - for Carnivores, but I'm sure someone has more data on those. (what is restrike?) Oh, and I have also seen LEDs used for CP lighting! I'd like to see photos of plants grown long-term under the LEDs, too.

[Clint]

Restrike is when light hits another coil of the bulb and you can consider it lost, wasted light.

I'd love to try out LED's but they are so new you might as well buy MH for the price. If you hunt around (or don't mind making your own) it can be a lot cheaper.

[roridula]

Ok, where would I shop for the compact florescents (the kind with 4 pins)? Are these available in hardware stores now, or will I have to go mail-order? Any web sites recommended? I have also heard one should look for certain wavelengths. Or perhaps just go with "Daylight" or "Cool White" as suggested above?

I suppose I should also look at retaiers of LEDs, but I expect they are not powerful enough for my project.

[Clint]

Anything from 6,400-10,000K is good. Just around that is fine. I like 10,000K.

ahsupply.com has retrofits.

[jpcuy]

justlikeapill said:

Anything from 6,400-10,000K is good. Just around that is fine. I like 10,000K.

ahsupply.com has retrofits.

I have two Fluorescent tubes for my seed and seedlings, one of them is CDL, but the other is WW (2950 ºK) .. Now I'm going to the hardware store to buy another CDL .. I'll use the WW in........ ' The kitchen! ' .. ;D

[jpcuy]

vftguyinsj said:

Don't get hung up on wattage.. most of that is irrelevant to plants.

Look for "Daylight" or "Cool White" on the package. Avoid "Warm White" they tend to be redder and not as usefull for the plants.

Good luck,
Steve

Oh ·&!!ª!"ª!ª!"$ª·$ª"·!!!! .. Thanks for the info, I'm going to substitute a WW NOW! ..

[utricseb]

What about using 2' t5 fluorescent tubes? That's what I am planning to use in my small terrarium.

[biglight]

You have to try LED fixtures with strip elements from Nichia and Ringdale fixtures. These are real grow lights for industrial growing to small greenhouses. 70% less energy with more lumen s. Very little carbon footprint. 90k with 10 year warranty. We use this world leading products in our facilties in California and other around the world.

[justjack]

I found a 300 watt equivalent coils type compact fluorescent that screws into any standard light socket at a local hardware/department store for like $13. Bright as heck, restrike or no. With a hood or reflector behind it would be close to overkill in a hex terrarium setup.

Just did some digging and found this;
www.growlightsupply.com/105-watt-cfl-grow-lamp-6500k-p-83.html

[williamg]

Mar 14, 2007 5:00:16 GMT sundewmatt said:

can people who are using these please post pics of the resulting plants?

Here is an older pic of some of my plants I have growing under 3 120 watt equivalent (I think) Compact Florescent bulbs. Two are daylight and one is warm light. If I can find a more recent photo, I will throw them up. My plants have turned a nice rosy tone, and have grown very well.