is this light fixture to much?

[mrlloyd]

http://www.aquatraders.com/20-inch-4x18W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52302p.htm

i cant keep any plants alive for longer then a week or so. (ficus-umbrella) i was thinking about getting this fixture and swapping out 1-2 of the bulbs for some 5.0's, what do you guys think

 

[Shampoo]

I have a 24x24x48 screen cage with a 24inch quad bulb fixture and only plants living inside at the moment. I got my quad-bulb T5 from lightyourreptiles.com. Todd also gave me a discount on the Arcadia UVB bulbs and swapped out the 10000k color temp bulbs (that typically come with aquarium fixtures) for more appropriate 6500k daylight spectrum bulbs. It's been doing a great job of keeping my hibiscus alive. I had an orchid in there as well but it strangled itself inside a pot that was too small for it (my fault there, it was doing great until then) and you can almost watch the pothos grow. I bought a tiny golden pothos, probably only 1.5 inches from soil to the highest leaf. It started with only three or four vines. In about a month I had to split the plant and put them in two slightly larger pots. It's now been and additional half-month and I have two 4-5 inch plants with about 7 or 8 vines each.

It's definately not too much.

 

[Venutus1]

http://www.aquatraders.com/20-inch-4x18W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52302p.htm

i cant keep any plants alive for longer then a week or so. (ficus-umbrella) i was thinking about getting this fixture and swapping out 1-2 of the bulbs for some 5.0's, what do you guys think

Just an FYI, there is not an 18" t5 HO UVB bulb available (from me or anybody ) that will fit that 18" bulb size T5 fixture.....
sooo....
You should consider an HO t5 fixture that takes 22" Bulbs.

Just sayin' ...
so you don't have you run into that wall down the road.

Cheers,
Todd

 

[Venutus1]

I have a 24x24x48 screen cage with a 24inch quad bulb fixture and only plants living inside at the moment. I got my quad-bulb T5 from lightyourreptiles.com. Todd also gave me a discount on the Arcadia UVB bulbs and swapped out the 10000k color temp bulbs (that typically come with aquarium fixtures) for more appropriate 6500k daylight spectrum bulbs. It's been doing a great job of keeping my hibiscus alive. I had an orchid in there as well but it strangled itself inside a pot that was too small for it (my fault there, it was doing great until then) and you can almost watch the pothos grow. I bought a tiny golden pothos, probably only 1.5 inches from soil to the highest leaf. It started with only three or four vines. In about a month I had to split the plant and put them in two slightly larger pots. It's now been and additional half-month and I have two 4-5 inch plants with about 7 or 8 vines each.

It's definately not too much.

YES! I am so glad you like it. I knew you would.
And I only have a few of those left.
Can you post a pic of your plants for us to see? pleeeeeeease?

Thank you again!
Todd
[email protected]

 

[carol5208]

most people use the 6500K grow lights for plants and then a 5.0 or 10.0 for uvb. Make sure you remove the splash guard if you go with that fixture. I am sure you know that already, but just in case you didn't!!

 

[Mmcbain1]

Zoo med doesnt have T5 5.0 bulbs if you really want to use T5's. Check out Arcadias and the light your reptiles guy on here. Otherwise look into T8's.

 

[mrlloyd]

arcadia does sell t5's correct? i just looked on the lightyourrepties website and i couldnt see there bulb sizes.

 

[mrlloyd]

i cant tell if this is a t5 or t8...

http://lightyourreptiles.com/d3rela18fall.html

 

[mrlloyd]

nvm its a t5. now the fixture i showed takes 18" bulbs, they come with 6500K lights x4. now this would work.