Re: Mini Compact 10 watt = 50 watt??

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Incandescent bulbs are *very* good heaters and very bad
light sources, except that they are very simple and cheap
to manufacture.  1500 watts of incandescent light puts out
as much heat as a 1500 hair dryer or a 1500 watt space
heater and use the same electricty -- give or take a unit.

Fluorescents are not moderately good heaters -- good enough
to effect tank temps in the summer ;-)  But they have to
last a long time to cost less to buy *and* operate than
incandescents.  They also shed a lot more light into a
samller space than incancescents, which is a primary value
for planted aquaria -- they help you get enough light over
your tank.

Lamps that push past 60% efficiency tend to have a very
narrow spectrum -- like those street lamps outside your
domicile, which render flesh an awful color -- in fact then
render everything the pretty much the same awful color
since they only put one one narrow band of color.

Scott H.

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