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.