Flourescent Question

[morleyz]

A friend has a 10G with one of those cheapo incandescent hoods that takes like a 15W appliance bulb. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has used those flourescent bulbs the screw into a standard incandescent socket? I found some at Home Depot that would fit into his canopy and was rated at 40W.

Additionally, this got me to thinking...how would these bulbs compare to standard flourescent tubes? They have these nice small bulbs with 75W output...you could make some very high output lighting for very cheap.

Thanks.

 

[slipknottin]

Most of them have Low spectrum values... like ~3000K.

I know a couple members have found them at 6500K.

Id say they have half the light output per watt that other fluorescent bulbs have. The light is also horribly difficult to focus on a specific area without reflecting most of the light back into the bulbs.

 

[gcvt]

Originally posted by slipknottin
Most of them have Low spectrum values... like ~3000K.

I thought most of those bulbs were in the 4700k range

 

[slipknottin]

they might be... the ones i saw yesterday at home depot were around 3000k.

Im sure there are some out there around 4700K too.

 

[gcvt]

I'm not really sure either - just thought I saw the 4700k number on a few websites a while back...and maybe on RC too??

Either way, most of those bulbs will be very 'yellow'.

 

[morleyz]

I guess it was a nice thought...I'll have to see if I can maybe we can put something together that's affordable for him.

 

[slipknottin]

i did a search on the old boards for you...

heres the website i came up with http://www.1000bulbs.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?page=1


you want to buy the 5100 K bulbs

 

[tyler]

usually, the output they have listed on the box is how it would copare to an incandescent. it will probably say something like 65 watts, uses on 17 watts or something along those lines. if you want something that 's not so yellow, you can find bulbs rated around 6500k, but they're not common in all areas. i think consumer electric makes a 19 watt 6500k bulb.

 

[morleyz]

Originally posted by slipknottin
Most of them have Low spectrum values... like ~3000K.

I know a couple members have found them at 6500K.

Id say they have half the light output per watt that other fluorescent bulbs have. The light is also horribly difficult to focus on a specific area without reflecting most of the light back into the bulbs.

OK...well I've definitely found plenty of bulbs withing different spectrum values....so I don't think that is an issue, but why do you think they would be any different than a standard flourescent? The bulbs really aren't _that_ large, most seem to be in the 1.5" - 1.75" range. I was just thinking if I used like a 75W would I get 30W of useful light? Maybe add a custom reflector to get some extra output.

I'm really trying to find an affordable solution for the guy but I don't want to recommend something that he's going to be unhappy with.

 

[goldfish freak]

A member here named GDominy has done this type of thing on his 22 gallon tank. Check out his website http://aquafiend.plantedtank.net/22g.html