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Enclosure lighting?

Discussion in 'Growing Areas' started by Monkey89, Jul 9, 2015.

  1. Jul 9, 2015 #1
    Monkey89

    Monkey89 New Member

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    Hi, I'm new to the forums and i have a few questions about light. I've been planning to build a small orchid cabinet to house my small orchid collection. (The collection includes B. nodosa, Onc. "Ollie palmer", Aerangus ellisii, a few common phals from big box stores, and a couple of mini orchids.) I'm a carnivorous plant grower primarily and I'm used to dumping as much light as possible on my plants. I'm just curious as to what intensity I need my lighting at. The enclosure I have planned would be 2'Lx1.5'Wx2'H. Would a two bulb t8 fixture be adequate? I have some led fixtures i could use to supplement if need be. Opinions?
     
  2. Jul 9, 2015 #2
    KellyW

    KellyW Orchid wonk Staff Member Supporting Member

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    Monkey89, welcome to the Forum.
    There are lot of folks on here that grow under lights so you will probably get lots of suggestions. In the mean time, use the "search" function and you should get lots of good threads to read.
     
  3. Jul 16, 2015 #3
    naoki

    naoki Well-Known Member

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    Monkey, as you probably know, it depends on how close you'll place the plant to T8 bulbs. With 2x, you'll need to place higher light ones fairly close to the bulbs (without causing heat stress). For Phals, 10" or so is a good start.
     
  4. Oct 18, 2015 #4
    Dave The Scientist

    Dave The Scientist Active Member

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    I believe the newer T5 bulbs are more efficient.
     
  5. Oct 19, 2015 #5
    chicago chad

    chicago chad Active Member

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    A 2ft T5 fixture will work fine. If the area is completely closed off it will increase the tank temps by about 4F

    An alternative with even less heat would be the LED (white emitting) from firstrays.com (better option IMO)
     
  6. Oct 19, 2015 #6
    Dave The Scientist

    Dave The Scientist Active Member

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    I would say you might have more than 4 degrees of temp rise. My t5s put out a good bit of heat. I'm really happy with my LED light. Mine is a jungle dawn brand from New England herpetoculture
     
  7. Oct 21, 2015 #7
    Marni

    Marni Well-Known Member Staff Member Supporting Member

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    The T5's in my flask room put out so much heat that it is a problem. For the cool flask room I have converted most to LED and am very happy with them. Almost no heat and much less expensive to run.
     
  8. Oct 25, 2015 #8
    Dave The Scientist

    Dave The Scientist Active Member

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    Yeh, I'm having problems with heat too. When my apartment is at 78, it's 92 under the lights.
     
  9. Oct 27, 2015 #9
    Natureman

    Natureman Active Member

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    ImageUploadedByOrchidsForum.com1445985801.676895.jpg
    I use T5's in mine, but I think the T8's I had before worked just as well in this application. I think you're fine with T8's especially if you have them already.
    Good luck...post your results!