Indoor culture lighting
 

Can anyone suggest an inexpensive LED for indoor culture? My terrarium is 16" tall and it looks like some of the orchids mounted near the bottom are not getting enough light (leaves yellowing, no disease though) and I'd like to fix this going forward.

The lighting will need to be full spectrum, as I eventually plan to place a few thumbnail dart frogs in the tank and they need a small amount of UVB.

Are you looking for a better lighting system altogether or just a different bulb brand? I'm newer to orchids and my experience here is related to other plants. When I had planted aquariums, the "aquarium"-specific stuff was always more expensive than similar lighting systems that could be re-purposed. But people are constantly overpaying for aquarium stuff and giving up the hobby so I would try craigslist for old aquarium lights if that is compatible with your terrarium. It's easy to find full spectrum bulbs online, but almost every aquarium uses fluorescent and/or LED. I put the money down on a HID system and the orchids I tried it on during my cloudy winter did great.

I use these guys from home deport. work well and my phals bloom well with them https://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Ele...4302/206384735

"LED", "inexpensive", & "UVB" are not all going to happen in one lamp.

Agreed. I have never tried to find an only LED set ups. I understand they make certain colors REALLY pop and certain aquarium hobbyists swear by them, but fluorescent was always the way to go for the price-concerned who still want full spectrum light. This was true for in-door agriculture and aquascaping/terrariums when I was still in the hobby.

If fluorescent is the main source, then supplementing with an LED bulb or incandescent or natural light should be more than enough light for most plants. LED does not emit the same amount of heat that incandescent bulbs do (or sunlight from a window), but if you're going to add frogs to your mix, you'll need heating anyway, right?

UV is substantially filtered out by glass and plastic. If you really want it to reach your frogs you would need to have the fixture inside the cover, or shining through some kind of mesh cover.

With the increased efficiency, LEDs over time are considered to be more cost-effective than other solutions.

LEDs are the standard for aquariums now, and for adding full spectrum lighting, which contains UVB. I was using an inexpensive full-spectrum aquarium light on the tank, it was just not bright enough considering how deep the tank is. (And yes, it is totally reasonable to get a low cost LED with full spectrum lighting, I do it all the time because I have 14 fish tanks)

The mesh on this terrarium is a screen top, so it should allow plenty of UVB for the frogs, but I am also likely to add some strip lighting inside the tank just to create an effect, and can easily make that full spectrum LED lights.

I can't use a fluorescent light. Not only are they hideous, but the fixtures will heat the tank way too much for both the flowers and the frogs. For the time being, I've added a powerful aquarium fixture (LED as well) to the top which has brought my FC at the bottom to ~1000. It will work for now, but will not work long term.

Why will the aquarium fixture not work long term? I am considering a terrarium but only because it isn't very warm where I live.. But either way, I would hypothetically have a fan on them during part of the day/night. So, I never even considered high temps being a problem..

It's a clip on for a specific tank that falls off this one LOL. And the other ones are not bright enough.

I think for the sake of the frogs you will need one of those "pet store" type lamps. I believe they die without the correct light.