Don't throw out that old incandesant light hood.

[discusman54]

I have a 10 gallon incandescent hood, one of those cheap things that holds the skinny 25watt bulbs. A lot of us probably have one laying around from days gone by. I wanted to put a compact fluorescent screw-in bulb in it but the reflector was to narrow for the bulbs.
Today I was Lowes, (large home and garden store in the south-east US) I found a mini-compact bulb 13watts/ 6500k that fits it perfect! Price, $5.98 each. Thats 26watts of 6500k fluorescent light for a 10 gallon, 2.6 watts per gallon for $12. I noticed now they have compact fluorescent in almost every size I could think of!
Just wanted to share that. Could save someone some money, I hope.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

good job. i think they work good on 10-20 gal tanks. its not a real 2.6w per gal but its better then most of the other light.

 

[grannylvsfish]

I have a 10 gallon incandescent hood, one of those cheap things that holds the skinny 25watt bulbs. A lot of us probably have one laying around from days gone by. I wanted to put a compact fluorescent screw-in bulb in it but the reflector was to narrow for the bulbs.
Today I was Lowes, (large home and garden store in the south-east US) I found a mini-compact bulb 13watts/ 6500k that fits it perfect! Price, $5.98 each. Thats 26watts of 6500k fluorescent light for a 10 gallon, 2.6 watts per gallon for $12. I noticed now they have compact fluorescent in almost every size I could think of!
Just wanted to share that. Could save someone some money, I hope.

thats awsome!!!!! we do not have a lowes, though. I wonder where else I could go? I have 2 hoods with skinny tubes, I need some good lighting !

 

[discusman54]

Mgamer20o0 good job. i think they work good on 10-20 gal tanks. its not a real 2.6w per gal but its better then most of the other light.

Yep it's a cheap way to get another tank going. These bulbs where only available in the 3000k range, talk about any ugly yellow light that did nothing for plant growth. I'm sure it's not the same as a newer PC fixture but 13w is the watts used, says they replace a 60w bulb. Of course the reflector in these hoods are very inefficient, oh well, it's on a low-tech brine-shrimp tank. I'll be culturing tetraselimis saltwater algae to feed them as they grow out.
I have a couple of 20w/6500k standard size compacts going on my 15gal Red cherry/ ghost shrimp tank. The plants and the algae, for the shrimp to eat, are growing great. I've been cutting the light cycle back.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

yea they have them in higher watts now also. i have seen some people say now upto 42w bulbs. i never see that high of a bulb but i have seen some 27w bulbs.

 

[reybie]

I read in another thread where the poster got his spiral bulb from walmart at about $7 / par and I believe it was 26W each.

He even posted the GE link. Let me see if I can find it.

 

[reybie]

I believe this is the GE Bulb he was talking about, it was a little tight fit from his description.

 

[discusman54]

The bulb that fits these narrow fixtures is a Slyvania ,5K53, 800 lumens, 13w, 8000 hour, top of pack. says Daylight/6500K. It has a narrow base and a smaller spiral. Standard compact wouldn't fit.

 

[MikenDanielle]

Im so happy this thread got posted! On the my 20G that I am setting back up it had just regular incadescent fixtures, and I have those energy saving spiral bulbs all through my house but never once thought of putting them into the hood. Sweet idea!

 

[amhodge]

For those who don't have a Lowes: http://www.1000bulbs.com/category.php?category=2086

I was going to do this same thing but decided I didn't like the idea of squeezing the bulbs into such a tight space. I have the full All-Glass hood and the bulbs would actually be sandwiched in contact with my glass lid and the hood reflector.