Are those spriral energy saver power compact lights any good for planted aquarium?

[ngochuynh]

Lighting Idea:
I'm thinking of upgrading the light for my 36gal planted tank. A decent pc fixture is too expensive for me and I was thinking of building my own light.
I was thinking of making a fixture with 3 or 4 of those spriral energy saver compact fluorescent lights. Is it a good alternative? Was thinking about those 32 or 40 watts ones.
Any comment is appreciated

[fresh_newby]

not to my knowledge...they don't put out enough....spectrum low too. <kelvins>

[Malbri]

I wa actually told to get one......
b-rob told me about it, he may be able to help you

[ngochuynh]

This is my theory: three 40watts bulbs will be more than enought for the 3watts/gallon rule. (My tank is 36 gallons) and canadiantires have those day light bulbs at 6500K which I think is very decent.
What i'm worrying is that the the tank won't be able to get even light intensity. Don't know if this is a problem

[webcricket]

They will work, but the spiral shape is not very efficient for emitting light into the tank. If you can find the screw-in bulbs using straight tubes instead, these would work better. I know GE makes some. You may just need to overcompensate wattage to be sure enough light is getting into the tank.

[Mgamer20o0]

i tell people to use them in smaller tanks. they are cheap but like webcricket said they are not very efficient. i have only seen 27watts before but i dont look much for them. you can put a few of them on and see what happens.

[ngochuynh]

Has anyone have any experiences with this before?

[ErrorS]

I think two of the 40s in a 10G works out well, wouldn't try them on a bigger aquarium.

I used two 20w blue bulbs on my reef to simulate night coloring.. but on a 29G, two for night lighting? Shows how efficient they are (to be fair, the blue bulbs were coated more thickly than your typical bulb)

[Plecosterone]

I've used one of them on a 10 gal tank for my cuttings and extra plants and they grew like crazy. I had it in one of those retractable extension lights (the ones with springs on the side and it reflected enought light.

[WyldFya]

Actually these lights work great. If you use a hardware heat lamp reflector on them. Walmart across the country is now selling a new GE type that is 42W and 6500K.

[txaggies07]

My girlfriend has two of these bulbs for her 10g. Hers are 10W each (Similar to a 40W incandescent each). Her plants are growing rather well so far. She currently has Anacharis, Water Sprite, and Moneywort all growing in the tank. The plants have been in for a week or two and there are plenty of roots growing. I believe her bulbs are made by GE and are 6500K, which is a good Kelvin number for plants.

[ngochuynh]

I'll try them. Should I go with 3 or 4 40 watts?

[txaggies07]

Is that a 40W incandescent equivalent you are talking about that only actually draws 10W, or is it actually a 40W spiral bulb? I noticed you had a 36g tank. Thus, you should figure out how many WPG you want. WPG is a rule of thumb based on fluorescent bulbs, so 40W for incandescent will be different.

[bkw1982]

Actually these lights work great. If you use a hardware heat lamp reflector on them. Walmart across the country is now selling a new GE type that is 42W and 6500K.

these are the ones i have over my tank. until i upgrade my lighting i have a 20 strip and 4 spiral 10 over my 25 gallon. the ratin is 65k and is very white. my plants all seem to be doin well, especially my dwarf sag which is sendin runners all over the place. i was thinkin bout addin extra light sockets to a 10 hood to add 4 of these bulbs to one hood.

[$eaba$$]

Yes, they work good, atleast for me. I hace a 20 gallon high (16 tall) with two 25 watt, 5100k bulbs. My plants grow good, except the only bad part is that my light is more in middle in tank, and less on sides, because my bulbs are more in middle. Works well overall, and is cheap!

[Gumby131]

you want globes in the 6000 to 7000 kelvin range so the warm white and cool white are to low, you want the cool blue globes whice give off about 7000kelvin

[Mgamer20o0]

Is that a 40W incandescent equivalent you are talking about that only actually draws 10W, or is it actually a 40W spiral bulb? I noticed you had a 36g tank. Thus, you should figure out how many WPG you want. WPG is a rule of thumb based on fluorescent bulbs, so 40W for incandescent will be different.

when talking about the lights we only talk about actually power drawn. most of the time it says in big letters 150w and in small letter 27w used.

[ergo sum]

The other day I read this thread. I went out and bought two 10w bulbs and screwed them into the typical hood top that you get with a 10g. These things are good. They cast shadows. I was going to use this as your basic low light tank but I think I could move that up a notch easily.

[epicfish]

You're only gonna get into the low-moderate lighting levels with these screw=in bulbs.

[bkw1982]

i saw someone mention lights of america bulbs and found some at walmart, they're pretty nice screw ins. i think i like em better then the spiral bulbs, but will see how things wr out. but if ur goin for space savers the spirals are best