Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 15:33:31 +0000 From: "Jose Gengler" <jose.gengler@usa.net> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1228$foo@default> Subject: Fixtures
Hi!
Now we are building the terrarium. We do not yet have a single seed,
however. But we want to be ready in time. Spring begins in September.
I have found a very good 100x40x30 cm aquarium for about US $ 45.
It's time now to build the fixtures.
We are following the advices given by Barry Meyers-Rice. The article
is the best we have found so far on the subject, but if you read it
carefuly, there are a few contradictions. About them, I invite you to
share your experience.
First of all he writes:
"Becouse you have a 4' long terrarium, you can
use 4' long fluorescent fixtures".
Then he adds: "You want fixtures that have two bulbs each"
After that there is a paragraph about 40W bulbs (no longer made),
25W bulbs (1900 Lumens, not enough), and Energy Saving 34W bulbs
(3000 Lumens, reccomended).
So Barry suggests using 2 fixtures of 2 bulbs, 34W (energy saving)
each, adding up to a total of four bulbs. He says that the fixture
should have ballast that is necesary for Energy Saving bulbs.
But after all this, finaly he writes: "Do not waste your cash buying
expensive grow lights or full spectrum lights. More than a decade of
experience has demonstrated that carnivorous plants do not need them.
Just buy unexpensive cool-white bulbs."
These paragraphs open the door to the folowing questions:
-Must I use fluorescent energy saving bulbs, or is it OK to use
simple cool-white incandescent bulbs? Anyway, from the point of view
of the light bill, I am interested in the energy saving bulb. But I
am rising the question from the point of view of the light spectrum
of an incancescent light versus a fluorescent light, and its true
relevance for CP growth. We have here an energy saving bulb that is
like an U shaped fluorescen tube, attached to the bulb socket, and it
screws to a regular bulb baseboard. Other regular energy saving bulbs
have a more regular "bulb" (not "tube") form, but they do not seem to
be fluorescent type.
-There is another alternative, using in total, 2 fluorescent tubes,
4' long in one single 4' long fixture. This fixture would be made out
of wood and would also have a computer ventilator attached in its
inside. This would hide all the electric work in the inside. Also, it
would be handy just to lift the whole thing off the terrarium, and
then the terrarium can be easily opened.
Here in Chile we have 220V, not 110V as in the States, from where
Barry wrote. I haven't been able to find 34W bulbs. The most
consuming bulbs have 15W.
But then I thought that maybe Volts and Watts are inversely
proportional. If that is the case, then we have:
W x V = K
110V x 34W = 3740
220V x ? = 3740
? = 3740 : 220V
? = 17
Which closely matches the 15W bulbs I have found in Chile. But these
calculations are based on desesperate suppositions and not on
researched facts. Also, I know that these 15W bulbs supposedly give
the light of a regular 75W incandescent bulb, but conctretly, I
ignore just how many Lumens do theese lights give.
To confuse things further, many of the energy saving bulbs, DO NOT
need a ballast. Only the fluorescent TUBES would need one. So this is
a further discrepancy between what Barry found in the States, and
what we have here in Chile.
These energy saving bulbs cost about $10 each, which multiplied by
four would be $40. I want to be very sure about what I'll do. So
please tell me about your experience.
Thanks,
()()()()()
()* || () Jose Gengler
()= []=() osito@cmet.net
() || () jose.gengler@usa.net
()()()()()
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