Lighting 1

Marco Esposito
Last update: 17 February 2000

As an alternative to fluorescent strip light tubes, I have been using Philips low energy bulbs. These bulbs have a standard bayonet fitting and are available at various Wattages. Despite a high unit cost, they require no choke and according to the marketing have a cheaper running cost and longer life than any other form of lighting.

One of my vivaria consists of an adapted standard 36 x 12 x 21-inch high fish tank. It has a sliding front panel for access and is cross-ventilated via a mesh strip across the middle of the fixed lid. There is another ventilation strip under the front panel. This stops the front glass from steaming up and obscuring visibility. It also reduces the risk of stifling, stagnant air, which is detrimental to plant growth.

The lighting sits on top of the glass lid and consists of one 30W Osram cool white tube and two 23W Philips warm white, low energy bulbs. The Osram tube sits at the back of the lid covered with a length of guttering liked with tin foil.  At the front of the lid I have cut a 36-inch length of the squarer white guttering with an end stop attached to both ends.  These end stops have a hole drilled (approximately 1.5 inch diameter) large enough to fix a standard bayonet light fitting.  The piece of guttering is lined with tin foil for reflective purposes and can be neatly wired up with just one mains lead.  The Philips bulbs sit horizontally at each end and are surprisingly bright.  They emit 1500 lumens each (equivalent to 150W of incandescent light) and give a more yellow light than the Osram cool white tube.  A timer controls all lighting on a 12-hour on/off cycle.

With this level of lighting I have found plant growth both prolific and dense.  Before I added the Philips bulbs, the substrate of the viv. was always dark and plant growth was both leggy and spindly.  I have also noted that this level of light is essential for the growth of moss. I spread Java moss Vesicularia dubyana very thinly over a variety of vivarium strata: wood chips, cork bark, bogwood, porous stone, coconut shells etc. and kept it moist by spraying with good quality water. With a little patience the moss will root and begin to spread. Coconut shells are now completely covered and the moss has totally blanketed the cork tiles glued to the back and side walls of the vivarium. Other plant life in the tank includes ferns, bromeliads (Neoregelia, Cryptanthus, Aechmea, Vriesea) Scindapsus, Philodendron, Ficus and Croton.

The system I have used for this vivarium is self-filtering and virtually maintenance free.  It consists of a standard plastic under-gravel filter topped with three inches of pea gravel.  The tube going into the under-gravel filter has been cut to a one-inch stump and topped with a power head water pump.  By attaching a length of tubing to the outlet of the power head water can be pumped to the opposite end of the tank and over a waterfall of bogwood or stone.  A depression in the gravel at the base of the waterfall acts as a small pond/water area while the water level in the remainder of the tank stays just below the gravel.  On top of the gravel I have placed pieces of Cotswold stone, bog wood and peat blocks.  These are all now covered in moss. Java moss will also grow in and out of the water area.  Spraying the vivarium compensates for any evaporation and washes any wasted into the gravel where it is effectively filtered.  Other than cleaning the front glass and occasionally wiping faeces from leaves, I have not cleaned this vivarium since I set it up over five years ago!
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