budget lighting

R

Rokwell

AC Members
May 1, 2008
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I was walking through the lps and saw 50/50 screw in pc lights the other day and after abit of research found some other pc screw ins, the average bulb obviously doesnt have a acintic light but i read those are only for viewing pleasure... would there be a problem with using 2x
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=44559-3-29349&lpage=none
in my 10g tank?
I imagine they would provide sufficient lighting for some corals and i would be able to use my fw hood that has sockets rated at 25w
 
Whats the kelvin rating? Most household lights are only 6500K, you need 10000K to keep corals alive, but those would work great for macro's and such.
 
eh i think they are low... gonna head over to the hardware store soon to see if they have any 20ish wattage bulbs that screw in that meet the kelvin requirement... would be bomb if i didnt have to buy a hood (my lfs charges 2x the prices they need to and im not a fan of fedexing)
 
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Rokwell said:
eh i think they are low... gonna head over to the hardware store soon to see if they have any 20ish wattage bulbs that screw in that meet the kelvin requirement... would be bomb if i didnt have to buy a hood (my lfs charges 2x the prices they need to and im not a fan of fedexing)
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Please don't take offense to this question but I have to ask. Do you know what your LFSs expenses are? Do you know what he has to pay out every week for employees, rent, utilities etc. etc.? If you don't know that then how can you say he charges 2X what he needs to. I seriously doubt they are charging 2X what they need to because if he charges half of that then most likely he would not be making any money on it. Retail markup on dry goods usually runs 2X the price paid. High ticket items like lighting and filtration usually get only a 1.5x markup or even less. Online stores can get away with charging less for a couple of reasons. They are usually nothing more than huge warehouses in low rent districts that buy in huge volume at distributor prices and bypass the middle man by selling at wholesale prices to the public. I just paid $180.00 to get a 36 watt uv sterilizer for one of my customers. Normally, at that cost I would retail it for $270.00. I sold it to him for $200.00. Why, because that is what he would have had to pay in line for it. F&S had it for the same price I had to pay for it. People get all bent out of shape because the LFS charges outrageous prices compared to the online retailers but they never stop to consider what that LFS has to do to stay in business compared to the online place. I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to save a little money. In this economy most of us have to try to stretch our dollars as far as we can. If you can save a bit of money by skipping over your LFS and buying the stuff on line then hey, you have that right and I don't have a problem with it. Of course, that often leads to another expense for the LFS that online places don't have to deal with. When people get broken stuff from the OL place or the filter comes in missing a strainer, or they don't know how to set it up usually the first place they go to get their problems taken care of is the LFS.

I'm sorry to have hijacked the thread, and Like I said, I don't mean to offend anyone. It's just that most of the time people don't have a clue as to what goes on behind the scenes in a LFS. They look at prices and that's it. If you see a higher price at the LFS then the only logical reason has to be because he is trying to rip you off. I'm sorry, but its not. I am sure that there are some LFS owners who are making a very good living but I would guess that the majority of them could be making a heck of a lot more money working for someone else.
 
I understand what your saying but this particular shop charges 2x what multiple shops in the area do for live rock... their filtration/other equipment is also priced significantly higher than other lfs in the area and on top of that i could go to the petco half a mile down the road and get a niger trigger for 20 dollars or a clown for 20 dollars where they want 40-50 dollars for the triggers and 50-60 dollars for all but their baby clowns this place has an awesome selection of corals they keep on stock but even these are compared to the other lfs over priced this place also seems to get the majority of their business from their freshwater selection not to mention the people who work their are *******s, you sir do not seem to be this way to your customers
 
Well, don't judge me before you get to know me:) and on the surface it would seem that you are right about this store. Before I let the subject drop however, let me just add a few more things. I never compare price from one store to the next on livestock. There are far too many variables involved to make an accurate comparison. Unless I know for a fact where they get their animals and exactly how they take care of them it just isn't fair to automatically assume that the higher priced store is simply gouging the customer. Dry goods are another story however as usually the bigger stores have the ability to buy in large quantities so they often get stuff even cheaper so if they are higher in price then they are probably making more money. This again does not necessarily mean they are gouging. Larger stores generally have more overhead. Another thing to consider is the level of expertise that comes with the purchase. If I know everything about the fish I am about to purchase it doesn't matter but if I have questions I would rather have someone helping me who knows what he is talking about than some 16 year old kid who is just working in the aquatics section that day because he switched shifts with his buddy. Even if they are *******s I'd rather be getting advice from them than from a nice kid who doesn't know his wrasse from a hole in the ground.

Again, please don't feel like I am picking on you. I too know of stores exactly like the one you are describing. I used to avoid them as well because I figured they were just out to make an extra buck. Now that I know better what goes on I can say that I understand why they may feel they have to charge what they do. They may not be right about it but they feel that they are.

I would suggest that you go to one of the other LFSs armed with the online price of the lighting you are looking at (don't forget to add the cost of shipping) and see if they can match it or come close. When faced with the prospect of making a small amount or none at all most stores will take the small amount. It also helps if you are somewhat of a regular.

If you do decide to go with the CF bulbs let us know how it works out. I could see them being a legitimate option in some cases.
 
hahaha doesnt know his wrasse from a hole in the ground... nice hehehe
yea this store is able to gouge because they are housed in the crappiest shopping center in the nicest part of atlanta (buckhead) and I have been there when it was just the owner and he definately drives a mercedes(only car in lot) which isnt a bad thing but i imagine that he isnt doing too bad with his busines...
on another note i went to the hardware store and the only pc screw in bulbs they had were only like 3k kelvin... the only prospect i saw was one bulb that was advertised as full spectrum lighting? but there wasn't a kelvin rating on the package... go figure so im gonna make the journey to a couple of the shops that are in or around the greater atlanta area and compare prices for hoods or see if they have anything above the 10 watt corallife screw in
cheers!
 
The Home depot out near me have 10,000K CFL's I think they are labled "Daylight", so they do exist keep looking and let everybody know how it turns out.
 
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Wow, 10,000 K CFs. That would be worth looking into. All the ones I have ever seen as "Daylight" are usually around 5500 to 6500 K which would be fine for many corals. As far as corals needing 10,000K, its not true. I know two people who keep corals using nothing but vita lites and they are rated at 5500K. Certain corals may need more intense lighting than a CF can provide but I don't think the K rating is that critical for most of them. It's more for asthetics than anything else.
 
i figured that the thing about 10k was something like that... on my research looking for cheapish bulbs i found out that the sun itself only puts out light equal to 6500k at the surface of the earth
 
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