Lighting for habitat plants

FredChameleon

FredChameleon

New Member
Hi all,
I'm having a serious lighting issue... lack there of... I have 3 lights on top of my Chams enclosure... 2- flouresent single bulb units, and one dome basking lamp. The lights do not create enough light for my live plants to live very long... anyone have any sugestions?... i'd add more lights, but am concerned that they would cause too much heat.

Enclosure is 4' tall and like 2' square.

Thanks in advance,
Andy.. my Cham is Fred
 
off the subject, but thought I would share.
in my bearded dragons cage.. there's a terminite mound that i have in there and cricekts love to hide in there... i noticed some little bugs one day.. paid them no mind but now i know what they are... baby crickets.. lol hundreds of them very tiny still.
 
FredChameleon said:
off the subject, but thought I would share.
in my bearded dragons cage.. there's a terminite mound that i have in there and cricekts love to hide in there... i noticed some little bugs one day.. paid them no mind but now i know what they are... baby crickets.. lol hundreds of them very tiny still.
Click to expand...

get a grow light. :) lol to the tiny crikets.
 
I have the same size cage and use two fluorescent lights for my plants in addition to UVB and heat. One is 18 inches and one is about 10 inches. Both are daylight bulbs with a color temperature of 6500K. If the daylight bulbs don't work for you, there may be other problems with the plant care. Good luck.
 
Lurk said:
I have the same size cage and use two fluorescent lights for my plants in addition to UVB and heat. One is 18 inches and one is about 10 inches. Both are daylight bulbs with a color temperature of 6500K. If the daylight bulbs don't work for you, there may be other problems with the plant care. Good luck.
Click to expand...
the only light sourse for the cage is the 3 lights i have, it's just dark like 3/4 of the way down. plants die in less than a month due to lack of light. maybe duel light units would help?
i'd keep my cham outside, but summers here in Houston can be a bit brutal.. last summer it was in the hundreds and no rain the whole time. temps now are great for my cham but never made a cage for outside :(
 
FredChameleon said:
the only light sourse for the cage is the 3 lights i have, it's just dark like 3/4 of the way down. plants die in less than a month due to lack of light. maybe duel light units would help?
i'd keep my cham outside, but summers here in Houston can be a bit brutal.. last summer it was in the hundreds and no rain the whole time. temps now are great for my cham but never made a cage for outside :(
Click to expand...

Your best bet and probably the easiest for many reasons is to get multiple plants and swap them out monthly. I usually swap them when I do complete cage tear downs once a month.
 
Lurk said:
I have the same size cage and use two fluorescent lights for my plants in addition to UVB and heat. One is 18 inches and one is about 10 inches. Both are daylight bulbs with a color temperature of 6500K. If the daylight bulbs don't work for you, there may be other problems with the plant care. Good luck.
Click to expand...

ok, not to sound dumb, i'm not a light bulb expert, but the 6500k bulb.. non fluorescent screw in type?
 
I have a 5'x4'x3' cage and I have two 4' double fixtures across the top with one UVB light, and the other three are 5000k lights, like the one above. My plants do really well with this. You may not need three, but one double fixture with two might be great for your plants in a normal 24" or 18" fixture.

I prefer the 5000k over the 6500k (which I used to use) because it's a slightly less gray/blue light, it feels just as bright but less harsh. And I've read that it's a more natural light spectrum for chameleons as well, they see colors more honestly, and not as grayish.
 
FredChameleon said:
Hi all,
I'm having a serious lighting issue... lack there of... I have 3 lights on top of my Chams enclosure... 2- flouresent single bulb units, and one dome basking lamp. The lights do not create enough light for my live plants to live very long... anyone have any sugestions?... i'd add more lights, but am concerned that they would cause too much heat.

Enclosure is 4' tall and like 2' square.

Thanks in advance,
Andy.. my Cham is Fred
Click to expand...

You said you have 2 single bulbs....what kind of bulbs are they ?

When using flourescent bulbs, there are a few factors....

1) Wattage of the bulb (and depends on your fixture too) these can vary but tend to be "somewhat" standardized based on size of bulbs you buy (T5, T8, etc, 1' 2' 3' etc).

2) COLOR SPECTRUM. This is VERY important if you plan to get plant growth. Most bulbs you find at Home Depot and whatnot are "cool white" and those ranges (2000-4000K color spectrum). These bulbs just won't cut it.

You can sometimes find "daylight" bulbs but be careful of the labelling. Many manufacturers label 5000K bulbs as "daylight" but I personally stick to the more standardized 6500K. I get great growth with these, but they are hard to find (esp in sizes smaller than 4' at home depot). I get them from my local "industrial light supplier" (just search that in google maps near your location)...the bulbs cost like $3 each.

Also note, there are "aquarium bulbs" that tend to run 10000K. I have not tried using these for non-aquatic plant growth, they might work but I unfortunately don't know enough behind the science to say for sure....but I'd monitor temperatures if you do use these.
 
The right LED bulb would boost your Lumen level and solve this...

Hi FredChameleon,
The right LED bulb(s) in the correct Spectrum, Wattage & Color Temp would boost the Lumen level would solve this problem. Guaranteed.

PLUS...It would be VERY easy on the electric bill and produce NO unwanted heat for you or the animal.

SonTigerPantherCham has actually been good enough to give an 11 Watt 6.5-6.8K LED set up a try as supplemental lighting in the "real world" on one of her set ups.
Comparing to a wonderful Indoor Sunshine® 25 Watt CFL.

Seeing how that goes. Will keep this forum posted.
:)


Cheers!
Todd

These are some preliminary LED pics with Lumen measurment at 18"-20" and a color rendition chart.

BTW...
The 24W Mixed Diode UV A spot that was designed by yours truly :p and custom manufactured in Shenzhen for LightYourReptiles.com has just been shipped to UK for spectral analysis.
I can't wait to see the results come back on that to see if it is good "as-is"... or needs more "tweaking". This is an exciting time.

Sorry to high-jack :eek:
 

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Hi Todd!,
I love the LED, it is amazing how much light it gives for such a small bulb :)
It is cool, as in no heat and turns my 2x2x4 from a dark cage to full outdoor lighting. I haven't lost a single leaf off my live plants and have seen no ill affects to my chams.
Can't wait to get the rest of my cages set up with them.
Can I say the newest info???
Shhh (Arcadia!!!) I am really waiting for these, maybe I am speaking out of turn?
Anne
 
SonTigerPantherCham said:
Hi Todd!,
I love the LED, it is amazing how much light it gives for such a small bulb :)
It is cool, as in no heat and turns my 2x2x4 from a dark cage to full outdoor lighting. I haven't lost a single leaf off my live plants and have seen no ill affects to my chams.
Can't wait to get the rest of my cages set up with them.
Can I say the newest info???
Shhh (Arcadia!!!) I am really waiting for these, maybe I am speaking out of turn?
Anne
Click to expand...

i think i already saw these shown on the forums for sale :D
 
Okiroo, yep you are right, didn't check Light Your Reptile web. I have read alot about these and they are supposed to be superb.
Todd I also noticed you have your uv meters on sale?? How are you managing that?. Great gift idea :)
K, gotta go shop lights!
 
SonTigerPantherCham said:
Okiroo, yep you are right, didn't check Light Your Reptile web. I have read alot about these and they are supposed to be superb.
Todd I also noticed you have your uv meters on sale?? How are you managing that?. Great gift idea :)
K, gotta go shop lights!
Click to expand...

lol :D have fun! i was thinking of getting some but actually bought a new light today after i saw this :eek: mabey next time. lol
 
thanks all!

thank you all for the great tips and site... my plants will be happier and my Jackson will be even more happier to have a plant that is healthy to climb in.:)
 
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