Converting Incadescent to Flourescent

Boohoo

Boohoo

AC Members
Feb 22, 2005
643
0
0
57
Bridgewater,Nova Scotia
Both my 10g have the canopies that take incadescent bulbs. Today I bought some flourescent spiral shaped bulbs at the hardware store that fit a regular socket. I put them in my canopies and they work great. I have a few live plants in each tank that is why I wanted the flourescent bulbs. They are 13 watt bulbs that are supposed to be equivalent to a 60 watt regular bulb. Is this too much for my tanks? At least they are not making my temperature rise like the incadescent ones did.
 
Compact fluorescent spirals, I think Blinky uses them, but they should work great. If they are 13 watts, then figure them at 13 watts. The comparison to a 60 watt incandescent really doesn't mean anything to the plants. It's a great cost effective way to provide good light to a small tank. and Make use of the otherwise useless incandescent hoods.
Dave
 
Thanks, I really like the look too. I bought a three pack of bulbs for $11.97 Canadian at the hardware store compared to my LFS selling something simaler for $20.99 each. What a huge saving.
 
I do indeed use PC spirals, they're great. You lose some light due to their shape, so they're not as efficient as non-spiral bulbs, but they're a great alternative to incandescents.
26W of spirals on a 10g tank isn't a lot (the WPG rule breaks down with small and very large tanks). As long as you don't have extremely demanding plants, they'll probably do just fine. You can take a look at my specs for specifics - I've got 3WPG (5500K) on my 10g and 4WPG (6500K & 4100K) on my 14g, both with spirals, and the plants (water sprite, Crypts, Rotala indica, Bacopa australis and Hygro polysperma) are doing really well.
 
First of all I got suckered into buying mond grass. So I'm not too concerned about it as I know it is just going to die anyways. I have 2 other plants, one is wisteria and the other is some kind of hygro??? I think that is what the salesclerk called it. I am going to do a little more research cuz I plan on putting a reasonable amount of plants in my 55g. Not much choice for plants around here.
 
CLICK HERE

You would need something that matches the description of the itme listed above...not saying buy it there, just get something like it...

:idea2:
 
Go to IKEA for these bulbs. I'd love to show a link with a price but they're not on the website. Look in the lighting section. I think you can get them for about $5CAN each.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom