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Vivarium Lighting Kits For 55 Gallon Aquariums

Proven, inexpensive lighting for 55G vivariums & bioactive terrariums

Save Up To 5% Off Already Low Vivarium Lighting Prices

Sustain Bromeliads & other tropicals

Naturally accurate color representation

NEHERP-backed warranty

Save up to 5% off our usual low prices!

Grow plants vigorously, from top to bottom

Grow NEHERP Moss & Moss Slurry (LEDs Only)

Current Satellite LED+ PRO

48-60in Model

Current's newer Satellite LED+ Pro units are up to 106% brighter & have 185% higher PAR output than the originals. These lights offer full RGB control, storm & cloud effects, and the ability to save your favorite presets using the remote control. They also include a digital ramp timer for very realistic automated sunset & sunrise every day. The only downside is that they are a little more expensive than our Vivarium Lighting Kits.

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Current Satellite Plus Pro

Note: The 48-60in model is what we recommend for your 55 Gallon Aquarium

Jumpstart T5HO Fixtures

2-3 48in Models

If you are looking for a high output plant growth light and a little extra heat isn't a concern for your setup, it may be worth considering Jumpstart T5HOs. They do run hotter than our vivarium lighting kits and require being mounted to something above the enclosure for safety, but they are a fairly inexpensive option. Each Jumpstart kit includes a 6400K bulb specially selected for horticultural use.

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Jumpstart T5HO

Note: We'd recommend 2-3 48in T5HOs for your 55 Gallon Aquarium, depending on the type of plants you'll be keeping. If it's more common basic plants, a pair of T5HOs should get the job done. If you'll be keeping Bromeliads, Orchids, or other high-light plants, we'd recommend three T5HOs.

Option 1:
Plant Growth CFL

Bioactive Live Vivarium Lighting Kit With Inexpensive Fluorescent Bulbs For 55 Gallon Aquariums

Each 55G Lighting Kit Includes:
6qty 23W Plant Growth CFL Bulbs
2qty 24in Exo Terra Compact Tops

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Color Temperature:
5000K

Efficiency:

Plant Growth:

Brightness:

Heat Output:

$88.27/ea Kit

Usually ~~$88.27~~/ea Kit
Sale Price: $83.63/ea Kit

$88.27/ea Kit
Sold Out!

It looks like our stock of this type of CFL is low, but we're expecting a shipment imminently. If ordered today, we'd expect it to ship within 5 business days.

Option 2:
Value Grow LED

Bioactive Live Vivarium Lighting Kit With Inexpensive LEDs For 55 Gallon Aquariums

Each 55G Lighting Kit Includes:
6qty Value Grow VG13 LEDs
2qty 24in Exo Terra Compact Tops

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Color Temperature:
6400K

Efficiency:

Plant Growth:

Brightness:

Heat Output:

$193.72/ea Kit

Usually ~~$193.72~~/ea Kit
Sale Price: $183.53/ea Kit

$193.72/ea Kit
Sold Out!

It looks like our stock of this type of Value Grow LED is low, but we're expecting a shipment imminently. If ordered today, we'd expect it to ship within 5 business days.

Option 3:
Jungle Dawn LED

Bioactive Live Vivarium Lighting Kit With Jungle Dawn LEDs For 55 Gallon Aquariums

Each 55G Lighting Kit Includes:
6qty 13W Jungle Dawn LEDs
2qty 24in Exo Terra Compact Tops

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Color Temperature:
Mixed Spectrum

Efficiency:

Plant Growth:

Brightness:

Heat Output:

$227.92/ea Kit

Usually ~~$227.92~~/ea Kit
Sale Price: $215.93

$227.92/ea Kit
Sold Out!

It looks like our stock of this type of Jungle Dawn LED is low, but we're expecting a shipment imminently. If ordered today, we'd expect it to ship within 5 business days.

About Our Vivarium Lighting Kits:
Each of our NEHERP Vivarium Lighting Kits are designed to ensure enclosed bioactive ecosystems will look and perform exactly like a slice of nature should. We've designed every kit around all of the important factors described in Vivarium Lighting 101 article; the #1, most complete Vivarium Lighting Guide on the web. In short, our lighting kits have the ideal color temperature & color rendering index to ensure that an enclosure's contents will appear naturally accurate. We've also gone above & beyond testing the plant growth performance of each option, to ensure there is plenty of PAR light to grow plants vigorously at every level within an enclosure. Illuminance figures were also kept in mind to ensure the kits will appear bright enough to be naturally realistic to the human eye. In plain English, our vivarium kits were designed to brightly illuminate bioactive terrariums with naturally accurate light which will grow plants with ease... Without breaking the bank.

Lighting Terminology Defined

Frequently Asked Questions

What Makes Our Kits Different

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Lighting Terminology Defined:
(Links to Vivarium Lighting 101)

• Illuminance / Lumens
• Kelvin / Color Temperature
• PAR Light
• Color Rendering Index
• Inverse Square Law
• UVB Light

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Frequently Asked Questions:

Question:
What about UVB light?
Answer:
UVB is beneficial to certain animal species, but PAR light is what plants & live vivariums need to thrive. Our kits produce enough PAR to grow plants in your enclosure, but they do not produce any UVB. If your animal species requires UVB light in captivity, adding a supplemental UVB light source is easy! Check out our Vivarium Extras for 55 Gallon Aquariums page for your enclosure's recommended UVB light add-on.

Question:
How long should the lights be on every day?
Answer:
The lighting kit should be left on for about 12 hours every day, with as much consistency as possible. This will simulate our planet's 24 hour cycle, and should help promote a healthy circadian rhythm for all the plants & inhabitants within the enclosure. If your home gets hot during the summer, it's perfectly OK to keep the lights on for as little as 10 hours per day to fight high-temps. (Just keep in mind plants will grow less vigorously this way) We recommend using a basic outlet timer to manage the enclosure's day/night cycle. For more info on the subject of circadian rhythm, check out our Setting Timers Section in Vivarium Lighting 101.

Question:
Can I dim these lights?
Answer:
Nope. Our kits were designed to offer high levels of performance at the lowest price without sacrificing quality. We do carry other lighting options with more features though! Check out some of the alternative lighting solutions we've got for your 55 Gallon Aquarium by closing this FAQ panel & selecting "Alternative Lighting Solutions".

Question:
Will these provide heat?
Answer:
Our kits produce little heat, especially LED kits. Check out our heating section for heat sources.

Question:
Do the LEDs carry a guarantee?
Answer:
The LEDs available in our kits are guaranteed for 1 year, and we're proud to say the replacement rate is incredibly low. (The replacement guarantees are serviceable directly through us!) Ensuring heat is allowed to escape from the LED unit(s) is the most important step you can take to extend service life. A printed copy of a few simple tricks to reduce heat are included with every kit.

Question:
How long will CFLs last?
Answer:
CFLs last quite a while, and we guarantee them for 1 year. Having said that, all fluorescent lights degrade with time, and we highly recommend replacing them every 8-14 months to ensure there's enough PAR light being produced by the bulbs.

Question:
Are they water proof?
Answer:
None of the lights we sell in our kits are water proof, water resistant, or are in any way impervious to water. Like with any electrical product, it's critical to ensure they stay completely dry at all times to prevent risk of shock & fire.

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What Makes Our Kits Different:
Our family owned & operated business has no special loyalty to our major lighting brands, and our company goal has always just been to carry lighting solutions which offer excellent reliability, great output, and a fair price. (In blunt New Englander terms; "We won't carry gahbage!".) In our opinion, performance, reliability, and quality are by far the most important factors to consider when designing any part of a vivarium, and our product lineup reflects that mindset. We've modified our kits many times since we opened in 2009 and will continue to change things as the products supporting the market evolve, to ensure we're always offering the best gear available for a reasonable price. Basically, you can rest assured that if we're offering something, it's because we like it enough to recommend it & use it ourselves.

One particularly important example which describes exactly how & why we select certain lighting components occurred in 2015, when we conducted a survey with all of our newsletter subscribers. We asked everyone what they thought about each lighting brand we carried, and whether or not we should carry three other brand names. The results were surprising. One brand we were considering carrying is pretty popular on 3'rd party marketplaces, but a handful of our customers had some not-so-nice things to say about it when the results came back. Needless to say, we discontinued plans to carry the brand and decided to stick with the higher quality Current USA LEDs, which had awesome reviews & better performance by comparison. Another brand we were considering was an a higher-end one which we figured would have been a little too expensive to generate much interest. The response from the community survey suggested otherwise, so we listened & began carrying Jungle Hobbies LEDs. In one last example, when product availability of one LED brand became a problem, we asked the same group of clients about trying out our new (at the time) Value Grow LEDs. It was only after nearly 2 years of testing & positive reviews that we began offering those LEDs in our kits.

The bottom line is we genuinely care about the vivarium hobby as a whole. We've built our lighting inventory based on our own experiences and the experiences of our awesome clients. The vivarium hobby has been our specialty (and livelihood!) since 2009, and we're confident that you'll love what we've put together for you. :-)

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Alternative Lighting Solutions For 55 Gallon Aquariums

Looking for a feature not found in our Vivarium Lighting Kits?

Our kits are the best bang-for-your-buck solution that we offer, but we carry more than just one way to get the job done. Below, we've listed other options which would be well suited to your 55 Gallon Aquarium.