Vivarium lighting question

[jarteta97]

I'm so glad I found this post. I'm setting up a 24x18x36 exo terra right now, and have already obtained the lights for the tank. You most certainly do not need to drop $700 on lights. For the bulk of my lighting I'm using a 24" Snake Eyes Evo Quad LEd from topdogsellers on ebay. Right now, I believe they have few to none in stock and they are double the price of what I payed, but you can contact them and ask when their next sale is. They have them fairly often from what I understand. I paid about $60 for mine which includes a timer and CPU fan, and they are very good quality. I have not had the chance to test their effectiveness with plants, but I know of several long-term hobbyists from dendroboard who can attest to their penetration abilities. They are VERY bright. One member lit his whole 36x18x36 like yours with one of these bad boys.
I like to have a day/night cycle as well, so I also have a 24" finnex 24/7 that I got off of amazon for about $80. This light will go behind my SE evo quad, and will mostly be used to light upper background plants, as well as giving me that beautiful day/night cycle that finnex does so well. So if you don't care about day/night cycle, you're talking $80-$90 max on lighting. If you want plug and play day/night cycle and slightly more coverage (I'm telling you, that SE evo quad is BRIGHT), then you're talking around $150-$200.

[GBantle]

Hey Josh thank you for your response, that helps a lot! I was mainly getting info off of places like http://www.neherpetoculture.com and other vivarium building websights (who sell their own stuff, go figure) who was suggesting some crazy expensive lights and still saying it may not be enough. When I get everything set up I’ll be sure to post a picture, I think I would like the day/night cycle as well so I’ll probably spring for both of those lights. Thanks again!!