Anyone ever use work lamps as lighting?

[StreetCypher]

Do you think this would be too bright? Its a 500Wt3, 118-mm halogen bulb. For plants?
http://www.rona.ca/img/product/full/0079385.jpg

[Skidood]

Those lamps throw off a lot of heat, and are extremely bright.
Would it be OK? maybe, but I wouldn't use it personally.

[DaisyTattoo]

I used to work for a fire restoration company and those suckers start lots of fires....I would never leave one on unless I was actually there to watch it. A painter was using one while he was painting a church and it actually caused the church to burn to the ground, so please please be careful if you use that.

[misopeenut]

those are kinda like metal halide and ive seen alot of epople use it
they cant afford ADA solar 2 so they DIY the light using one those lights..
500watts may be little too much but how big is your tank?

[GreenTerr0]

i work construction and where we cant get heat we plug those in, just a side note on how hot those suckers get. Ive also seen them melt there own cords..... considering it will be near water and living organisms... not the best idea.

[YuccaPatrol]

One really good cheap light available out there is a stainless steel 48" fluorescent shoplight available at walmart. Holds 2 bulbs, nice stainless finish, and only costs $14! I have one on my 75 gallon and will probably get another soon.

[stingray4540]

Yeah, i would say no as well. they get really hot which can adversly affect your water temp and it would be too bright for your tank assuming that you don't have a 250 gallon tank. I work construction too, and one of the aprentices put our radio on top of one of those lights, and well, we were wondering why the radio wasn't playing anymore so we checked on it and found a big hunk of melted radio. needless to say that apprentice will never here the end of it.

[slipknottin]

its halogen, which is pretty much just a fancy incandescent bulb. Puts out a ton of heat, and not that much light.

Your going to be using 500 watts of electricity and getting less than 200 watts of usable light.

[Gumby131]

i wouldnt simply becouse tis a fire risk

[StreetCypher]

Good points about the heat, fires and not being as useful as it seems.

Right now i have a shoplight on my tank with 2 48" strips on my 180g. Thankseveryone

[1HungryGoldfish]

It's too bad you shouldn't use the work light. It has a deep aestetic beauty about it. :coffee2:

[carpediem]

I agree... I have one of those lights and that thing is downright dangerous. There are certainly much better alternatives.