What are the specs of your setup, and what do you grow?

[Tim C.]

I've been looking for a thread for a long time that has the specific details (bulb type/model/manufacturer, wattage, lumens, degrees K, FC, distance, etc) of everyone's artificial light setups. Across many different orchid boards I haven't found anything remotely close to this, so I figured I'd start one.

Here are my specs, copied from a reply I made to another post in this forum:

- Growing area is 27" deep by 49" wide by 3 foot tall.
- 2 GE Daylight 40watt T12 fluorescent tubes, 6500K, 3050 lumens per bulb.
- 2 GE Kitchen and Bath 40watt T12 fluorescent tubes, 3000K, 3400 lumens per bulb.
- 3 Bright Effects Daylight 26watt compact fluorescent bulbs (the screw-in type), 6500K, 1600 lumens per bulb.
- 3 Bright Effects Soft White 26watt compact fluorescent bulbs, 2700K, 1750 lumens per bulb.

All of this comes to roughly 23,000 lumens in my grow area. My footcandle readings are, in distance from bulbs: 5" = 5000 FC, 10" = 3500 FC, 18" = 1500 FC. I grow standard sized Catts in this setup, their leaves all sit within the 3500-5000 FC range. No scorching, no burning, nice green leaves with some purple edges. Lots of big blooms.

I've included some pictures of my setup. If anyone has specific questions about my setup, please feel free to send me a PM and I'll be happy to discuss it further.

Thanks,
-Tim C.

[10010100102]

That's a lot of light!

I use one 30W 3000K compact fluorescent in my tank with mostly masdies. The tank measures 1 1/2' x 2' x 1 1/2'. The bulb is about 4-6" away from the plants (depending on the size of the plant and where it's placed). They're quite happy in there (insofar as I can tell) and are flowering nicely.

[dravenxavier]

I've got a 75 gallon 48 x 18 x something (I'm terrible at remembering the height, for whatever reason). Lighting is 2 Coralife 48" 2 x 65W 6700K PC fluorescent fixtures, for a total of 260W. One half of the tank is shaded with a layer of window screening. That side contains mostly Pleuros and Masdies, along with some misc. stuff like Zootrophion and a Schoenorchis fragrans, among others. The other, brighter side contains carnivorous plants, miniature species of Dendrobiums, and a few other things. Plants can be anywhere from on the bottom of the tank, up to right under the lights on mounts. This allows for many adjustments to cater to lighting/watering needs. Unfortunately, I don't have FC readings. Here are some pictures of when I first set it up:



Bright side:


Shade side: