spiral cfl lumens...Help me rhonda!

[fishorama]

I'm confused. I have a couple old 10g incandescent hoods, I put in 2 spiral 20w cfls with 1200 lumens I had. It looks brighter than a 20w tube & quite yellow. I'm not sure if I like it or not. I don't see any k rating for the bulbs. It sure makes the 20w over 20g near it look quite dim.

So whats the general consensus, how much light, as in watts/gal, do spiral fluorescents give? Can I grow dwarf hairgrass, red plants? Should I have at least DIY CO2 or don't I have to? Will my cherry shrimp look ok?

I looked at walmart bulbs & other than "daylight" I can't find a k rating or even a lumen #. I read many old threads but still don't get it. :help:

[Cory Keeper]

what did the box on it say? I would really try and find daylight bulbs, the lowest K rating I can stand is about 4100, otherwise it gets too yellow.

[kingearwig]

I was just at menards and they had 6000 k and 7000k CFL's for $4 and $6 a piece. These bulbs said full spectrum and daylight I don't remember with was which. I am going to put 4 20 watters on my 10 gal.
But I am getting really good growth with these 12 watt CFLs they are pretty yellow but not that bad.

[Mgamer20o0]

my guess is the 2700k most of them are soft white. check for the daylight bulbs or 6500k for them.

[fishorama]

Thanks guys. You're right, mgamer, I finally found the 2550k on the bulbs I already had. The bulbs by the fish stuff just said 10w full spectrum as far as I saw, no color k #. I'll check Lowes.

So what sort of lighting estimate will I have? I know there's a ton of restrike, is there a spiral watts/gallon rule? How about if I used 2 20w over 10g if I can find the right kind? Dwarf hairgrass or not? Any hope of HC?

[Cory Keeper]

Right now I'd worry more about getting some daylight or full spectrum bulbs.

[jmhart]

Wal-mart has two packs of 26w 6500k CFL's for $7. 56w over a 20g, plus co2 and ferts will let you grow whatever you'd like.

[The Zigman]

Wal-mart has two packs of 26w 6500k CFL's for $7. 56w over a 20g, plus co2 and ferts will let you grow whatever you'd like.

this is what I have on my 10G cherry tank.
Works fine. I have comboma and hair grass in there as well as a buncha algea for them to snack on...

as far as CFL's go, only buy daylights, the rest are yellowish.

daylights are usually in the 6200-6700K range...
Soft whites are in the 2500K range

If it doesnt have a Kelvin rating and you're not sure, dont buy it.

[fishorama]

Thank you all. The reason I asked is the "daylight" walmart bulbs are only 10w, some cfl are up to 26w, more than double no matter the restrike.

So at what level do I *need* CO2 ? I know it can help at all light levels but for regular fluorescent it's usually ~2.5w that it becomes almost mandatory. I'd rather not need to add CO2 right now as I'm setting up a couple more tanks & don't want to overextend myself with maintenance requirements, been there before. DIY is all I'd want to do at first anyway.

Yep, these bulbs in now are too yellow, the fish seem unhappy with the brightness/newness.