The Equipments (Part 2) ~ Lighting

I was thinking hard about the kind of lights a paludarium should need. In the planted aquarium world it's easy to just follow the guideline of 2-3WPG rule but in the vivarium/terrarium/paludarium world, it seem like it doesn't really work that way. The closest I can find to a guideline on the amount of light a paludarium need is ~0.5 to 1W per litre. So, for a tank my size (1X1X1.5 feet ~42.5L), a 20 to 40w light source should be sufficient (theoretically).

With a general idea of getting a light source of 20-40W output, I started to explore the current options in the market namely PL, T5HO and Metal Halides. I have been using T5HO for my planted tanks for a while and pretty much light the performance and low heat emission, to my dismay, I found out that they don't come in sizes smaller than 2 feet. For PL, the 1 feet light sets comes with 18W PL lamps and I can actually get 2 sets of these to make it up to 36W...to me this is an OK solution but something about the aesthetics and heat still irks me enough to want to explore further.

One day I happened to be looking at my work table lamp from Ikea and noticed that the height and the design can fit into my idea of the paludarium tank set. I was happy to find out that the lamp can take E27 base lamps that does not exceed 65W. It was using a pathetic Ikea energy-saving bulb of only 11W with an ugly yellow hue. So, I went out and bought the highest wattage E27 base bulb I can find and fitted it to the Ikea lamp. The result is as shown below:



Phillips Tornado 24W E27 6500K Cool Daylight

Bulb swapped in. Note the semi-gloss plainted inner surface of the lamp hood.

To me, the amount of light within the tank looks equivalent to a slightly overcast day and should be just sufficient for most shade loving plants. I think a large part is due to the stainless steel wire mesh filtering out at least 20-30% of the total light output from the lamp. The lack of a proper reflector within the lamp hood also did not help matters here.

I need something more powerful and can have penetrative capacity to reach the bottom of the tank through a stainless steel mesh cover!

So, Metal Halides comes to mind next. I really like the intensity of the MH but with the industry/marine hobby standard of 150/250/400W, the intensity and heat will probably scorch my land plants and boil all my aquatic fauna. I was delighted to find out that they actually have 70W MH sets. Due to the 1 feet width of my tank, I'm limited to looking at single pendant sets.

Giesemann Nova II is a beauty but their local distributor do not bring in the 70W version :P.

JBJ Viper comes in 70W but it's a clamp-on which I am not able to install due to the stainless steel mesh.

Considered Viclite's pendant options. I was initially thrilled to see that they have 70W options for all their MH light sets only to be disappointed by calling their office to be told they are no longer able to confirm any in-coming stock for their 70w options.

I was on the verge of going the DIY route when I decided to email DeLightings if they have 70W options for their MH sets (their website only advertised the 150/250W sets) and to my pleasant surprise, they do have that option. So, I'm more or less set on getting the set from Delightings and will be ordering my 70W 8000K Double-end MH bulb from ebay.