DIY Project

[pcnicholson]

So, now I am up to thinking about lighting for my new 50 gal. After looking at some of the DIY projects and thinking about the bulb costs involved with my coralife currently over my 55 long, I have been thinking about making my own lighting. My question is, why have I not seen any of these lighting suggestions that use some of the flourescent lights that fit in a standard socket. I was looking in my local Lowes and found 23w bulbs @$6.79 each. Built in ballast. These were 6700k bulbs btw not your standard soft white. Is there something that I am missing that would make these not feasible?

[Mgamer20o0]

they are great for tanks. i have told people over and over to use them on small tanks. the thing is they are not very effective. your best bet is to check out ahsupply.com.

[loaches r cool]

People have talked about them all the time... did you try a search?

Here are some threads about them FWIW:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111876
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110287
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100606&highlight=spiral+compact+fluorescent
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97715

[pcnicholson]

Ah, well I didn't do it on forums. Doh! All Google kept getting me was the cf lights like ah supply. The initial cost was not my main concern rather the cost of replacing the lights.

[Mgamer20o0]

you can get the cf bulbs for like 10-15 bux.

[pcnicholson]

Can you give me a link to that? I've got the 65wattx4 set up on my 55 now and would love a cheap place to get them when the time comes.

[Mgamer20o0]

http://lightbulbsdirect.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=001&Product_Code=F55BX-AR-FS


s. The bulbs that you want for planted tanks should be in the 5000k-10,000k range. What's that k you ask? Well it's short for Kelvin. If you want to know what Kelvin is ask. I'm not going to confuse people here. I really like the GE 9325k bulbs. My plants are doing very well under them. They are a hard bulb to find but you can find them at the best price here.

http://www.rexgrigg.com/light.htm

[pcnicholson]

Thank Mgamer