converting flouecent to walmart bulbs

http://www.petsolutions.com/All-Glass-Lighting-Parts+I15965101.aspx

You should be looking at double socket w/switch.
Take out the inside of the lightstrip (reflector/bulb)
Make a small hole for the switch to go into, wire it back up, screw in the switch and your good.. Oh forgot.. before you put everything in you can spray paint the inside white or cut a large coffee or even a coke can in half (vertically) and use that as a reflector.

Spray paint - $3.50
Socket w/ switch - $5 + shipping ($7-8) Unless you can find that switch at a local lamp repair store.
bulbs- 4 for $8


thanks :) good info

thats what I thought after I read it again.. I had one of those for a 10g,and after looking into changing it over like you want to do,and adding up the cost of parts..I just went to Wallmart and bought a 10g incadecent hood and the 6500k Daylight bulbs,get home,and instead of putting the incadecents bulbs that came with the hood in,I just screwed the Daylight bulbs in the hood..way easier .I think the hood was around $20 and the 2 pack of CFL's were $7 something


my walmart does not carry the lights here any more :eek: they are redoing our walmart, taking out most of the pet section and most of the fish suplies :eek:
 
thanks :) good info




my walmart does not carry the lights here any more :eek: they are redoing our walmart, taking out most of the pet section and most of the fish suplies :eek:


yeah,they did that here many years ago.i think the 1st year they were here,they had everything,fish,tanks,plants you name it..now they don't have any of it,just a half an isle with some pet supplies.

you should be able to get a replacement 10g hood at just about any LFS,pet shop like Petsmart or petco.
I just found it easier to do that than go through the trouble of changing over the flou tube to the screw in CFL bulbs. I was going to change over the light on my 55g and 37g(replaced by a 29g) too and decided it would just be easier to buy a new light fixture like a Current USA or a Coralife;although I don't like the looks of the light emitted from Coralife bulbs,any of them.
 
yeah,they did that here many years ago.i think the 1st year they were here,they had everything,fish,tanks,plants you name it..now they don't have any of it,just a half an isle with some pet supplies.

you should be able to get a replacement 10g hood at just about any LFS,pet shop like Petsmart or petco.
I just found it easier to do that than go through the trouble of changing over the flou tube to the screw in CFL bulbs. I was going to change over the light on my 55g and 37g(replaced by a 29g) too and decided it would just be easier to buy a new light fixture like a Current USA or a Coralife;although I don't like the looks of the light emitted from Coralife bulbs,any of them.
really? not even the 10,000 bulbs? I just got a coarlife 65 watt light fixture, I was so disapointed in the yellow color, I was just abotu to order the 10,000 watt bulb. whats wrong with that one?
 
not sure I've seen the 10000k Coralife bulbs..they should nice and "white' though..I prefer a 6700k/8000k for plants though
 
it came with the 67,000 it sucked! it was yellow color in the tank.


yep..The Coralife bulbs are like that..worse than any other IMO.

I'd bet most people will probably agree though,that the best plant growth will come using something between 5000k and 8000k,that's not saying plants won't grow with something lower or higher. When I order a new light for my 55g,I'm going with the 10000k bulbs too,or maybe two 10k and 2 dual 6700k/10000k Daylight (260w total) :confused:
 
Too bad we are not closer grannylvsfish, I want to do the opposite of you. The only bulbs I can find are very yellow looking.

5000k is the temp of daylight so that is what I am looking for.
 
Too bad we are not closer grannylvsfish, I want to do the opposite of you. The only bulbs I can find are very yellow looking.

5000k is the temp of daylight so that is what I am looking for.

I am pretty confused. so what light would look good, bright with out yellow? I have 36 watts of flourecent day light on mine now and it looks great, I do not want the yellow!! I thought 10,000k was daylight ( or without yellow)
 
~3000 is an incandescent light bulb (yellow)
~5500 is daylight.

10 000 is more towards blue. I have no idea what colour for growing plants in an aquarium however, leave that to others to answer. I just put a cool white bulb in my 10 gal and it is much whiter than the walmart bulbs I had.
 
~3000 is an incandescent light bulb (yellow)
~5500 is daylight.

10 000 is more towards blue. I have no idea what colour for growing plants in an aquarium however, leave that to others to answer. I just put a cool white bulb in my 10 gal and it is much whiter than the walmart bulbs I had.


basically,yes , and someone correct me if wrong here:

daylight (sunlight) at sea level is 5000-5500k; everything I've read and have seen myself is that plants grow "best" between 5000k and 8000k or so,which is in the light spectrum that plants use to photosynthesize..thats why when you see light fixtures listed (Coralife comes to mind right away ) they say "for the planted freshwater aquarium", or "Saltwater & Reef aquariums"...the freshwater almost always come with 6700k or 6500k,while the S&R usually come with 50/50,Actinic,and high K bulbs. Higher K bulbs generally penatrate deeper,and higher K are generally a brighter richer white color ( as in a 10000k - 20000k bulb) which more represents mid-day Tropical sun.

I really like the look of GE 9325k ,but the only way they come are 21" CF or in T8 and T12,nice white light and plants do well.

You'll like the 10000k from the way you sound as not liking the more natual looking 6700k as the 10000k should be noticeably "whiter" looking.

heres a good read with some pics to show what the different bulbs look like..

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/science-aquatic-lighting/723-9325k-difference.html
 
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