fluros or mh and hps
 

hey there,Im just starting to build my new terrarium.Size is 1200mm (4ft)long 900 (3ft) high and 600mm (2ft) deep.Im intending to grow mostly high temp dendrobiums (bigibbum and the like) plus some vandaceous orchids)
It will be heated of course.
My question is because of the height of the enlosure what would be more suitable fluros or should i get some metal halide and hps lights.Just seems as though with fluros they may be too far away from the plants?

Any thoughts would be appreciated
cheers

With the size of your space I think you'll be fine with fluros. They will also not generate as much heat as the others listed either which is a plus.

fluros
 

So if i use the fluros how many would i need? its so easy with mh etc to say 500 watts etc but with fluros?

With the newer fluros a 4 bulb 4ft T5 fixture will give you plenty of light which would be 216 watts.

I have a tank that is almost the same dimensions with 5 4 foot t5 and im only getting 200fc at the bottom. If id have to do it again id get mh or hps

light depth/penetration
 

thats was my concern.I dont really want to have my bigibums halfway up the enclosure although i could.

I was looking at an 8 x 39 watt light (ho) which is going to give me roughly 300 watts .... but then looking around as i do i saw the cfls where i can get say 3 or 4 200 watt ones.
Do the compacts still throw enough light evenly?

This is a good question, I have been pondering the use of t5's over a single 400w MH system, for my new orchid enclosure. I had been using a 600W HPS but I think it wasn't the right spectrum since my plants didn't seem to want to flower very much. I have read that since the t5's lumens are spread out along the bulb you don't get as much light penetration as a HID, also the HID still has better light output vs floros 400w=50k lumens I think, 515W of t5's equal this if I'm not mistaken. This is all speculation though I would love some real world results with both systems though to compare.

I'm using an 8 lamp - 4 ft long T5 system for my orchids. Getting 2200 lumens at about 18 inches for my phals and 4k lumens at about 6 inches from light for Cattleya. Flowers and works nicely. Heat a bit of a problem for me in Sept (growing in garage shed) but perfect temps in the winter. Shed about 55f and box stays about 80/60f on coldest winter days.

well i got compact fluros
 

Well in the end i got 4 130 watt compact fluros .Had them now for ohhh 4 weeks i guess .Temp of my growing area without any cooling is 30 degrees celcius.But i realize in our summer i mightneed a bit more cooling
But thanx for all your input

Hmm, I'm just beginning to set up an Exo Terra 36x18x36 tall terrarium. I bought 2 of the Exo Terra 4-bulb hoods in which I have a total of 8 Full Spectrum Light Bulb - ALZO 27W Compact Fluorescent Daylight Balanced 5500K. These bulbs put out 1300 lumens each. Measuring with a light meter, I don't see more than about 400 footcandles at points 6" up from the bottom of the terrarium. To get 1000 footcandles I have to measure about 6-8 inches from the top. Then again I can't be sure how accurate my light meter is. Does the lighting listed above seem like it should be insufficient?

I may have to rethink the lighting completely. The manufacturer's recommendations are to use CFLs of 26W each max, although a video on the Big Apple Pets website mentions that some of their customers have used 40W CFLs in the fixture (not sure if they tried it in the 4 bulb; may have been in the smaller model of the Exo Terra hood). The hood is fairly hot to touch even with the 27W CFLs. I could set up a couple computer fans atop the hood vents to cool the lights with higher wattage CFLs, but I'm afraid that will draw too much of the humidity out (still thinking through whether I'll need to get a Mist King system or just add a waterfall or both).

Another possibility is rigging additional lighting on one or both sides.

Primarily, I want to provide a suitably humid environment for Phal species and primary hybrids. Even with a room humidifier cranked up, I'm severely humidity-challenged during our dry winters, especially with forced air heating in the apartment.

Any thoughts?