Lighting

[Lucy]

Hi everyone. Right I've run in to a problem with lighting. My old aquarium is been converted in to my new dart frog home, but I need some help with lighting. the aquarium is 60x40x45 but with the false bottom will be 30cm high. I was looking at getting EXOTerra ReptiGlo 5.0 x 2 and using 2 es27 bulb floor lamps my mum doesn't want any more to mount them in. I want to grow real plants and I've been going around and a round with people saying there to dark or there ok and good for dart frogs. What I want to know is what would be a good lighting system that I need to grow plants and keep my frogs happy.
Lucy xxx

[Bruce]

I have a dart tank (24x18x12 inches) that is doing great with 1 exo terra 5.0 and two exo terra 2.0 (now called natural light)

[deranged chipmunk]

What lighting did the aquarium have originally? You can most likely use that. You can use pretty much any light fixture as long as the bulbs are the right color temperature of around 6500-6700k. Doesn't matter if it's a fluorescent tube, a spiral cfl, whatever. Stay away from old fashioned incandescent bulbs, they don't emit the proper spectrum of lighting.

[Lucy]

Hi Bruce and Bill, and thank you for the reply.
Bill this tank belonged to my mum's boy friend and he used as a marine tank but it as been cleaned and he is converting it in to the new froggie home. the only lighting he as is a ES27 blub fit night night which is all blue which I'm going to use since he isn't using it on his new marine tank. I think I will use the ExoTerra Natural Light ION compact 25w x 2 and ExoTerra ReptiGlo 5.0 Compact Lamp 26w.

[Terrarium Supplies]

Lucy I would opt for an LED strip - pure white 6000K as these will aid plant growth. You can also cut the strip to the exact size and will bring out the colours of both frogs and flora. Here in the UK, bills are very high so by opting for LED, you are in theory saving yourself a good few quid over the years to come. The profile is also only a few mm in height. Depending on how you choose to fit this, go for a waterproof version and play the safe game. With regards to your false bottom being 30cm, this seems a bit too much. By reducing this to 20cms, your giving yourself more room to play with... not to mention the frogs appreciating more room to explore.